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Review
. 2024 Jan 4;16(1):84.
doi: 10.3390/v16010084.

Mechanisms of Yellow Fever Transmission: Gleaning the Overlooked Records of Importance and Identifying Problems, Puzzles, Serious Issues, Surprises and Research Questions

Goro Kuno  1
Affiliations
Review

Mechanisms of Yellow Fever Transmission: Gleaning the Overlooked Records of Importance and Identifying Problems, Puzzles, Serious Issues, Surprises and Research Questions

Goro Kuno. Viruses. .

Abstract

In viral disease research, few diseases can compete with yellow fever for the volume of literature, historical significance, richness of the topics and the amount of strong interest among both scientists and laypersons. While the major foci of viral disease research shifted to other more pressing new diseases in recent decades, many critically important basic tasks still remain unfinished for yellow fever. Some of the examples include the mechanisms of transmission, the process leading to outbreak occurrence, environmental factors, dispersal, and viral persistence in nature. In this review, these subjects are analyzed in depth, based on information not only in old but in modern literatures, to fill in blanks and to update the current understanding on these topics. As a result, many valuable facts, ideas, and other types of information that complement the present knowledge were discovered. Very serious questions about the validity of the arbovirus concept and some research practices were also identified. The characteristics of YFV and its pattern of transmission that make this virus unique among viruses transmitted by Ae. aegypti were also explored. Another emphasis was identification of research questions. The discovery of a few historical surprises was an unexpected benefit.

Keywords: arbovirus concept; biological transmission; conventional wisdom; environment; history; reservoir; transmission mechanism; viral dispersal; viral persistence; yellow fever.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patterns of YF transmission in Africa and South America based on biological transmission (dotted arrow: possible flow of the virus still unconfirmed).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Patterns of the flow of viruses between environments.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Geographic distribution of YFV.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Interactions among parameters and factors in one linkage in a biological transmission cycle.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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