The president blamed climate change, traffic and even vehicles for the progress of yellow fever. Experts said.
News Colombia.
The yellow fever has returned to the national debate, not only for its alarming figures –20 deaths in the run of 2025-, but by the controversial statements of President Gustavo Petro, who announced that he will decree health and economic emergency to face the outbreak. But what has generated the most controversy is not the decision itself, but the arguments it has offered to justify it.
In a message posted on its X (formerly Twitter) account, Petro said the yellow fever virus, transmitted by the female mosquito Aedes aegypti, He is moving towards areas of the country where he had no presence before. The cause? According to him, global warming, vehicle traffic … and even cars such as mosquito transport.
“It is only needed that mosquitoes get into the cars,” the president wrote, referring to the risk that the vector arrives in cities such as Bogotá from intermediate areas such as Melgar, where cases have already been confirmed.
The phrase has aroused all kinds of reactions, especially among epidemiologists that have come to deny the possibility that the mosquito survives at cold altitudes and climates such as those in the capital.
While it is true that climate change has modified some mosquito distribution patterns, its reproduction continues to depend on very specific factors: temperatures between 20 ° C and 30 ° C, high humidity and presence of stagnant water.
Emergency with scientific base … or in excess of imagination
Yellow fever is a serious, potentially deadly viral disease, and its appearance in areas such as Tolima –With 41 of the 47 cases registered this year– Urgent attention merits.
But experts insist that, before making extreme decisions such as decreeing an economic emergency, a technical and non -alarmist approach is required.
However, specialists underline that the best tool to face yellow fever remains vaccination, not necessarily a national emergency declaration.
I will decree the economic emergency, after the health. But not because of what the smuggers, washing machines and tankers who are those who have been dominating Colombia’s economic policy, but for something simple and forceful: life.
We are again before a virus … https://t.co/djh4nbsz9o
– Gustavo Petro (@Petrogustavo) April 16, 2025
Petro, on the other hand, also blamed the mayorships for the alleged carelessness in the vaccination schemes, without offering forceful evidence. “We are again before a virus“Said the president,”This is the yellow fever virus unleashed by the female mosquito called Aedes aegypti”
The vector, heat … and confusion
He Aedes aegypti It is a mosquito that adapts very well to urban environments and lives near humans. It is reproduced in containers with water and is more common in tropical and subtropical regions, such as the Caribbean, the Amazon or parts of the center and north of the country. But it has limits.
“In cold conditions, its survival and transmission capacity is drastically reduced”Experts explain.
Although global warming can expand the area of influence of the mosquito, there are still no studies that demonstrate that it can actively establish or spread in cities such as Bogotá.
