Brazil detected 8 mutations of the yellow fever virus

Reporters in South America reported on April 1, Brazilian scientists said that at least eight mutations of yellow fever virus have been found in the country, causing more than 350 deaths in total. 1,130 cases of illness since July 2017 to date.

The Brazilian medical experts report that these mutations are related to proteins involved in viral replication.

The mutations that were born after the completion of a yellow fever virus genome were taken from specimens of monkeys in the southeastern state of Espirito Santo in late February.

According to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, the genetic change of the yellow fever virus does not affect the effectiveness of the current vaccine.

However, the Brazilian medical expert said he will try to find the possibility of mutating virus at a stronger level, while emphasizing the dominant South American 1E genotype microorganism in Brazil since 2008.

Speaking to television channel Globo News, Head of the Mosquito Transmission Laboratory of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Ricardo Lourenso, confirmed the importance of taking specimens of yellow fever infected specimens in terms and times. suitable for studying and accurately identifying viruses.

Yellow fever vaccination for people in Sao Paolo, Brazil.(Source: AFP / VNA).

Lourenso said one of the monkeys sampled had died recently, while another was still alive but in the final stages of the disease.

For his part, Head of the Flavivirus Biology Laboratory of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Myrna Bonaldo mentioned the possibility of using the yellow fever vaccine to be ineffective in the context of the Brazilian Government looking forward to implementing the program. vaccinated against this disease throughout the country.

Bonaldo said the vaccine for yellow fever has been used effectively for the past 80 years. The genetic changes of the virus do not occur in the main proteins but on the outside. Therefore, immunity may be higher or lower.

Health experts will study the effects of these eight mutations on monkeys, mosquitoes and people infected with the disease.

Yellow fever or yellow fever is an acute disease transmitted by mosquito bites . There are two types of yellow fever: fever caused by Haemogogus mosquitoes and Sabethes and others caused by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which also cause dengue, zika and yellow malaria.

In most cases, symptoms of the disease include malaria, loss of appetite, vomiting, special back pain and headache.

In some people, the disease subsides within a day, but then relapses with abdominal pain and liver damage, potentially causing internal bleeding and affecting kidney functions.

Yellow fever is common in tropical regions of South America and Africa. From the 80s of the last century, the number of cases of this disease continued to increase in the world. The last time the yellow fever was recorded in Brazil was in 1942 in the state of Acre.