Yellow Fever: A Reemerging Disease in South America, 2000–2016

Abstract

Abstract Jungle yellow fever (YF) is a reemerging, zoonotic, viral disease that has persisted for years in South America, despite the existence of an effective vaccine for more than 50 years. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 130,000 cases of YF are reported each year, of which 44,000 (33.84%) are fatal and 90% of them occur in Africa. In the absence of treatment, mortality in severe cases can reach up to 50%. In addition, the actual incidence of the disease has been estimated to be 10–50 times higher. Two cycles of the disease have been described: a jungle cycle and an urban cycle. The cycle that has been established in South America for years is the Jungle cycle. The main vector responsible for transmitting the Jungle yellow fever virus (YFV) is the hematophagous mosquito of the genus Haemagogus and Sabethes. Thus, a descriptive study was carried out of the bibliographic review of the confirmed cases of YF in the South American Continent from 2000 to 2016, accessing the information from different databases. During the studied period, 1,360 confirmed cases of YFV were reported, reaching a fatality of 47%. Mass vaccination campaigns in response to an outbreak have been the main control measure. The reported cases of the disease in the National Surveillance Systems during the study period indicated that this disease in South America continues to be a public health problem, particularly affecting the populations of Peru, Brazil, and Colombia.

Keywords

• yellow fever, surveillance, south america, outbreaks, non-human primates (nhp).