Yellow Fever News and Research

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Yellow fever virus, a flavivirus, is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Illness ranges in severity from a self-limited febrile illness to severe hepatitis and hemorrhagic fever. Yellow fever disease is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical findings, laboratory testing, and the possibility of exposure to infected mosquitoes. There is no specific treatment for yellow fever; care is based on symptoms. Steps to prevent yellow fever include use of insect repellent, protective clothing, and vaccination. Yellow fever occurs in tropical regions of Africa and in parts of South America. Yellow fever is a very rare cause of illness in U.S. travelers. The last epidemic of yellow fever in North America occurred in New Orleans in 1905.

Sudan launches yellow fever vaccination campaign to immunize 2.4M

"Sudan has launched a massive vaccination campaign to immunize 2.4 million people against an outbreak of yellow fever in the restive region of Darfur, the U.N. said Monday," according to the Associated Press.

21 Nov 2012

Yellow fever kills more than 100 people in Darfur; WHO, health ministry to provide immunizations

"More than two million people in Sudan's Darfur region will be vaccinated against a rare yellow fever outbreak suspected of killing 107 people since late September, health officials said on Tuesday," Agence France-Presse/France 24 reports (11/13). In a joint statement, the WHO and the Sudanese Ministry of Health said the mosquito-borne disease has spread throughout the western territory, which "has been plagued by conflict since rebels took up arms in 2003," Reuters notes.

15 Nov 2012

Yellow fever outbreak in Sudan's Darfur kills 67, WHO reports

"A yellow fever outbreak in Sudan's Darfur region has killed 67 people so far," and "the number of cases has more than doubled since the start of the epidemic last month," the WHO said in a statement on Wednesday, the U.N. News Centre reports.

9 Nov 2012

New method of testing for West Nile virus

While the United States has largely been spared the scourge of mosquito-borne diseases endemic to the developing world-including yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever-mosquito-related illnesses in the US are on the rise. One pathogen of increasing concern in the U.S. is an arbovirus known as West Nile.

24 Oct 2012

People need to protect themselves against West Nile virus

As this year's threat from the West Nile virus continues, one infectious diseases expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham says a vaccine is not in our near future, so people need to protect themselves.

5 Sep 2012

Magazine examines efforts to biologically alter bugs to fight human diseases

Pacific Standard magazine examines efforts by researchers around the globe to biologically modify bugs to fight human diseases, such as dengue fever. "Biologically altering bugs isn't entirely new; it's been done for nearly half a century to protect crops. ...

8 Jun 2012

ONPRC researchers discover new method to create safe and effective vaccines

While vaccines are perhaps medicine's most important success story, there is always room for improvement. Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University's Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) appear to have done just that.

30 May 2012

Ghana rolls out vaccines against pneumonia and diarrhoea

Ghana has become the first African country to introduce pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines at the same time, simultaneously tackling the leading causes of the world’s two biggest childhood killers – pneumonia and diarrhoea.

26 Apr 2012

Soldiers, farmers can have common chronic exposure to nerve impacting chemicals

Soldiers in war zones and farmers tending their fields can have in common chronic exposure to chemicals that impact their nerves.

19 Apr 2012

GAVI announces HPV, rubella vaccines will be available to developing countries

"The GAVI Alliance has announced that it will include human papillomavirus (HPV) and combined measles-rubella vaccines in its portfolio for the first time" to help protect women from cervical cancer and children from disability or premature death, Africa Science News reports.

6 Apr 2012

UC Riverside to study molecular basis of hormonal regulation of mosquito reproduction

Female mosquitoes require energy for their egg development, which they acquire from vertebrate blood. But by sucking on blood, they become vectors of numerous disease pathogens of human and domestic animals. If the mechanisms that govern their egg production are better understood, novel approaches to controlling the reproduction and population of mosquitoes can be devised.

23 Mar 2012

U.N. supporting yellow fever vaccination campaigns in Cameroon, Ghana

Following an outbreak of the mosquito-borne yellow fever virus in Cameroon that has infected at least 23 people and killed at least seven people, U.N. and local officials are working to vaccinate "1.2 million people considered at high risk of contracting yellow fever, which has no cure," the U.N. News Centre reports.

7 Feb 2012

Human health depends on mosquito's immune response to pathogens

As mosquito-borne viral diseases like West Nile fever, dengue fever, and chikungunya fever spread rapidly around the globe, scientists at Virginia Tech are working to understand the mosquito's immune system and how the viral pathogens that cause these diseases are able to overcome it to be transmitted to human and animal hosts.

11 Jan 2012

iBio receives U.S. patent entitled 'System for Expression of Genes in Plants'

iBio, Inc. today announced notice of issuance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for US Patent 8,058,511, entitled "System for Expression of Genes in Plants," that further extends iBio's patent coverage of viral vectors comprising its iBioLaunch platform.

1 Nov 2011

SafeMinds praises UNEP's draft treaty ban on use of mercury in pharma products

SafeMinds applauds UNEP's draft treaty language which does not exempt the use of mercury in pharmaceutical products, including vaccines, from the global ban. Governmental regulators, public health officials and pharmaceutical companies have recognized that the toxicity of mercury in pharmaceutical and personal care products, to which people are directly exposed, justifies a preventive approach to minimize all exposures.

24 Oct 2011

New laboratory in Kenya will research, monitor emerging infectious diseases

"A laboratory that will research and monitor emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) such as yellow fever and dengue" was launched in Kenya last month "in an attempt to tackle growing vector-borne health threats in the region," SciDev.Net reports.

7 Oct 2011

Experiments demonstrate how mosquitoes spread diseases

The carbon dioxide we exhale and the odors our skins emanate serve as crucial cues to female mosquitoes on the hunt for human hosts to bite and spread diseases such as malaria, dengue and yellow fever.

1 Oct 2011

Antivirals from shark cartilage compound squalamine

A unique compound originally isolated from sharks could prove to be a promising treatment for hepatitis B and C and other viral diseases, researchers say. Known as squalamine, the drug has not yet been tested as an antiviral agent in humans, but it has been given to hundreds of people enrolled in clinical trials designed to test its usefulness for other conditions. Researchers say they hope to begin human trials to test the compound’s antiviral activity within the next year.

21 Sep 2011

Combination strategies more effective for reducing population of tiger mosquitos

An experimental research carried out in Sant Cugat del Vall-s and Rub-, coordinated by researchers from UAB, assessed the efficacy of a combination of strategies to reduce the population of tiger mosquitos.

25 Jul 2011

Combination of strategies reduces more than half the number of tiger mosquitos

The combination of three complementary measures to eradicate tiger mosquitos - avoid having stagnant water, using insecticides to eliminate larvae and adults, and removing rubbish - reduces more than half the number of tiger mosquitos, according to a research coordinated by researchers at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.

22 Jul 2011