Detection of yellow fever virus genomes from four imported cases in China

Abstract

Yellow fever virus (YFV), as the first proven human-pathogenic virus, is still a major public health problem with a dramatic upsurge in recent years. This is a report on four imported cases of yellow fever virus into China identified by whole genome sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis was performed and the results showed that these four viruses were highly homologous with Angola 71 strains (AY968064). In addition, effective mutations of amino acids were not observed in the E protein domain of four viruses, thus confirming the effectiveness of the YFV-17D vaccine (X03700). Although there is low risk of local transmission in most part of China, the increasing public health risk of YF caused by international exchange should not be ignored.

A yellow flag on the horizon: The looming threat of yellow fever to North America

“…As of today, there is no evidence that the causative viruses are linked (Sanna et al, 2018). In April 2016, the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 11 imported cases of YFV in China in workers returning from Angola, setting the scenario for a possible urban transmission cycle in Asia (Cui et al, 2017), a continent where YFV is not endemic. The urban vector is highly prevalent in the South-East and Pacific regions, and their population could be immunologically vulnerable (Wasserman et al, 2016).…”

What Does the Future Hold for Yellow Fever Virus? (I)

“…The 2010 epidemic in Uganda, (the first in 15 years) served as a prelude to the outbreaks that took place in the neighbouring countries, Sudan and Ethiopia, in 2013 [86,161]. In December 2015, a large urban epidemic emerged in the Angolan capital Luanda and rapidly spread to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), subsequently causing imported cases in Kenya, China and Mauritania [158,159,162,163]. The outbreaks in Angola and DRC were remarkably large, with more than 7334 suspected cases including 393 deaths reported between December 2015 and December 2016.…”

“…One thing for sure is that the risk of YFV emerging into Asia is increasing as international trading, urbanisation and human mobility, continue to impose a greater impact on arbovirus emergence. [85,162,167,181]. One potential saving grace is the fact that yellow fever vaccine is probably the safest and most effective of all vaccines -if available to populations concerned.…”

Disease Resurgence, Production Capability Issues and Safety Concerns in the Context of an Aging Population: Is There a Need for a New Yellow Fever Vaccine?

“…Many of the recent African outbreaks, including in Uganda in 2010 [7,8], Ethiopia in 2013 [9], Angola in 2015 [10,11] and Nigeria in 2017 [12], were the first YF outbreaks in these countries in more than 10 years. Moreover, the Angola outbreak resulted in spread to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) [13], Mauritania and Kenya [14], as well as importation of disease into China by unvaccinated Chinese nationals who were infected while working in Angola [15,16]. In South America, a large urban outbreak was detected in 2016 in a non-endemic area of Brazil, and from 2016 to March of 2019 there were 2204 reported human cases or more cases than in the previous 20 years combined [17][18][19][20][21][22].…”