Yellow Fever Vaccine

By Christopher Kei Helm

Overview

Figure 1. Photo of a female Aedes Aegypti, the most common vector of the Yellow Fever Virus. Photo taken by James Gathany for the CDC's Public Health Image Library

Figure 2. Map depicting geographic high risk areas for Yellow Fever, published by the WHO, July 2013.

Virus

Figure 3. Diagram of a Flaviviridae virion. Note the three types of proteins composing the virion's membrane (E, M, C). Also notice the herringbone-like arrangements the E proteins form on the right hand diagram. Figure is the property of the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics

Replication

Figure 4. Diagram of the Flavivirus' life cycle. Notice the initial binding to the host cell and the clathrin mediated endocytosis that follows the initial binding. Then the viral membrane fuses with the host's endosome to expose the viral ssRNA to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). There, the ssRNA is transcribed and copied to make new viral proteins and new ssRNA. The viral particles are assembled and form a immature virion by budding off of the ER. After budding off, the immature virion moves to the Golgi. Moving from the Golgi to the host's membrane, the cell undergoes cleavages that cleave the prM protein into M proteins, maturing the virion before being secreted out of the host cell. Additionally, notice how the immature virion has a rough, spiked surface in contrast to the smooth surface of the mature virion. Diagram by Ted C. Pierson, NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Symptoms

Figure 5. Example of a patient suffering from jaundice. Notice the distinct yellow pigmentation of the skin. Retrieved from wikimedia. Author:James Heilman, MD

Vaccine

Figure 6. Diagram depicting the balancing of Th1 and Th2 helper T-cells and their respective functions. Property of Cambridge University Press (2000)

Future Research

Chimera Vaccines

Climate Change and Yellow Fever

Availability of Yellow Fever 17D Vaccine