Epidemiology eassy on Yellow Fever Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Epidemiology eassy on Yellow Fever - Essay ExampleThe family Flaviviridae contains tho one genus, Flavivirus. They are somewhat smaller than alphaviruses, being 40 nm in diameter. The name flavivirus refers to the type species, the xanthous fever virus ( Flavus, L = Yellow).The yellow fever virus was premier isolated in 1927 by inoculating rhesus monkeys with the blood of an African patient named Asibi. The virus was shown by Theiler (1930) to grow closely following intracerebral innoculation in mice. The infected mouse brain was used as a vaccine in former French West Africa (Dakar vaccine) though this was encephalitogenic. It was later replaced by a non-neurotropic (17D) vaccine (Panicker 2007, p.527-30).Cases are classified as inapparent ( 1 week the period of convalescence is usually short except in the more severe cases. There are no known sequele. (Beers 1999, p.1303-4). StatisticsIn a report by Weir and Shariqe (2004, 1909), each year about 2, 00,000 become sickly with ye llow fever around the world though the true incidence is likely to be much spunkyer. This was according to estimates by the World Health cheek (WHO) in 1998. About 90% of the cases occur in Africa and 10% in South America.Epidemiology of yellow feverApproximately 2, 00,000 cases of yellow fever occur per annum 90% of them occur in Africa. A dramatic resurgence of yellow fever has occurred since the 1980s in both sub-Saharan Africa and South America. A series of epidemics and smaller outbreaks of yellow fever that occurred in West African countries were primarily responsible for the increased incidence of yellow fever in Africa, but the first epidemic reported in Kenya in2 decades signaled that a change in the distribution of the disease was also occurring. Transmission in Africa is maintained by a high density of vector mosquito population that is in close proximity to largely unvaccinated human populations. Although some countries have incorporated programs, vaccine coverage is not optimal.In South America, the rate of transmission of yellow fever is lower than in Africa, in part because high vaccine coverage occurs primarily as part of mass immunization campaign in response to outbreaks of the disease. The largest outbreak of yellow fever in South America since the 1950s occurred in Peru in 1995, and cases were reported in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,