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Sedgwick County Offering Limited Yellow Fever Travel Vaccines

cdc.gov
Yellow fever vaccines are available through the Sedgwick County health department for travelers to countries that require the vaccine.

As infections of yellow fever spread in places like Brazil and Angola, the Sedgwick County Health Department has a limited number of the vaccines for travelers who may be exposed to virus.

The health department says it receives a monthly allocation of yellow fever vaccines, which at this time are only for people who will be traveling to countries where the immunization is required--not just recommended.

Yellow fever is a virus found mostly in tropical South American and African countries. It’s transmitted through mosquito bites, and though it often produces no symptoms, at its most severe can cause internal bleeding and organ failure.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it’s rare for travelers from the U.S. to get the illness, but infections of yellow fever are on the rise. The CDC says vaccines for the virus could run out in the U.S. by this summer.

Related: U.S. Supply Of Yellow Fever Vaccines Will Run Out By Midsummer

The Sedgwick County health department gives out immunizations on a walk-in basis, but they recommend calling ahead to check if the vaccine is on hand. The cost is $182.

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Follow Nadya Faulx on Twitter @NadyaFaulx.

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Nadya Faulx is KMUW's Digital News Editor and Reporter, which means she splits her time between working on-air and working online, managing news on KMUW.org, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. She joined KMUW in 2015 after working for a newspaper in western North Dakota. Before that she was a diversity intern at NPR in Washington, D.C.