08 Feb Vaccination Against Yellow Fever Has Reduced Size of Outbreak

Posted at 16:15h in Author Interviews, Infections, Vaccine Studies by

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

The yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti, taking a bloodmeal. James Gathany - CDC - PHIL

The yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti, taking a bloodmeal.
James Gathany – CDC – PHIL

Dr. Daihai He
Assistant Professor
Department of Applied Mathematics
Hong Kong Polytechnic University 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Yellow fever (YF) is a life-threatening mosquito-borne infection. The 2016-2017 Yellow fever outbreak in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda is the largest YF outbreak in decades. Vaccination is an effective measure to mitigate the YF outbreak. As a result, 30 million people have been vaccinated in DRC and Angola. 962 cases and 137 deaths were confirmed in these two countries. Suspected cases and deaths are 7334 and 498 respectively. The true effect of this large-scale vaccination campaign is unclear. Using mathematical modeling and statistical inference, we found that if the vaccination campaign was not implemented, the size of the outbreaks (in term of cases and deaths) could be 5-6 fold higher in Luanda province Angola, the hit-hardest region.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Response: Vaccination campaign against Yellow Fever in Angola has effectively reduced the size of the outbreaks. This is the first study which quantifies the effectiveness of this campaign. A delay of the vaccination campaign will lead to significantly more cases and deaths. Rainfall in March 2016 could have caused the second wave. Also, the reported weekly death numbers could have driven the wave-like epidemics in Angola.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: More research should focus on how to prevent such outbreaks in this region. Besides enhancing vaccination coverage, the government may consider implementing more measures on mosquito control, regular monitor of mosquito abundance and making the surveillance data available. More experimental studies focusing on estimating key parameters of Yellow fever, such as the latent period of Yellow Fever among mosquitoes, would be very useful to the scientific community.

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Modelling the large-scale yellow fever outbreak in Luanda, Angola, and the impact of vaccination
Shi Zhao,Lewi Stone ,Daozhou Gao,Daihai He
http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0006158
Published: January 16, 2018

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006158

Note: Content is Not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding your specific medical condition and questions.

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Last Updated on February 8, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

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