Brazil's Visitors Should Consider Chikungunya Vaccination in 2025

The Federative Republic of Brazil recently announced it broke its record for international tourists last year with over 6.621 million travelers, exceeding results from 2018.

This data, posted on January 3, 2025, indicates that Brazil is approaching its goal of attracting 8.1 million international tourists in the next three years.

However, health agencies such as the U.S. CDC suggest that tourists speak with travel vaccine experts before visiting Brazil in 2025 to learn how to prevent mosquito-transmitted diseases, such as chikungunya.

According to Brazil's Secretariat for Health and Environmental Surveillance, chikungunya outbreaks have been reported in Brazil since 2014. As of the end of 2024, the PAHO reported over 420,139 chikungunya cases and 236 related deaths throughout Brazil.

Chikungunya 'Indian Ocean Lineage' clusters with the highest risk were initially located in Brazil's northeast, followed by the central-west and coastal areas of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (2018–2021), and then increased in the northeast (2019–2021).

On October 28, 2024, a study reported that in 2023, during the epidemic in Minas Gerais, there was a mortality rate of 35.1/100,000 inhabitants.

When departing from the United States, the first U.S. FDA-approved chikungunya vaccine, Valneva SE's IXCHIQ®, is commercially available in 2025. IXCHIQ's approval in Brazil is pending.