Yellow fever – what it means for Singapore

• Main Authors: Lim, Poh Lian, Tan, Glorijoy S. E., Chan, Monica
• Other Authors: Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Science::Medicine; Yellow Fever; Haemorrhagic Disease
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/83667; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/49126
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Yellow fever (YF) is an arthropod-borne viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Hemagogus mosquitoes, belonging to the flavivirus family which includes dengue, Zika and West Nile virus. Infected persons may have symptoms that range from subclinical infection to multi-organ failure and death. In contrast to dengue which has a low mortality rate of approximately 1%, case-fatality ratio of YF is 20%-50% among the approximately 15% of infected persons who develop severe disease.1 Fortunately, YF can be prevented using a live vaccine which confers lifelong protection 10 days after the vaccine is administered. The international certificate of vaccination or prophylaxis is issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) to a person who has been vaccinated. It is valid for life, and may be a requirement for entry to certain countries under International Health Regulations (IHR).