Yellow fever live attenuated vaccine: A very successful live attenuated vaccine but still we have problems controlling the disease

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Abstract

Yellow fever (YF) is regarded as the original hemorrhagic fever and has been a major public health problem for at least 250 years. A very effective live attenuated vaccine, strain 17D, was developed in the 1930s and this has proved critical in the control of the disease. There is little doubt that without the vaccine, YF virus would be considered a biosafety level 4 pathogen. Significantly, YF is currently the only disease where an international vaccination certificate is required under the International Health Regulations. Despite having a very successful vaccine, there are occasional issues of supply and demand, such as that which occurred in Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo in 2016 when there was insufficient vaccine available. For the first time fractional dosing of the vaccine was approved on an emergency basis. Thus, continued vigilance and improvements in supply and demand are needed in the future.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)5951-5955
Number of pages5
JournalVaccine
Volume35
Issue number44
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 20 2017

Keywords

  • Flavivirus
  • Fractional dosing
  • International health regulations
  • Vaccine
  • Yellow fever

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Medicine
  • General Immunology and Microbiology
  • General Veterinary
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Infectious Diseases

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