A yellow fever epizootic in Zika forest, Uganda, during 1972: Part 1: Virus isolation and sentinel monkeys

Abstract

The results of the yellow fever immunity survey of Central and East Africa reported by SAWYER & WHITMAN in 1936 prompted scientists to undertake well-planned epidemiological studies on yellow fever in eastern Africa. A Yellow Fever Research Institute (the present East African Virus Research Institute) was established at Entebbe in 1936 for this purpose. One of the areas where much work has been carried out is a strip of typical tropical forest, the Zika Forest, 12 kilometres from the Institute. Routine surveillance work, particularly on the biting activity of the yellow fever vector mosquitoes, has been going on since 1946. It was during one of these studies in 1972 that the first yellow fever virus strain was isolated from Aedes africanus collected from the Zika and Sisa forests and one strain was isolated from Coquillettidia fuscopennata, also from the Zika Forest. Three sentinel rhesus monkeys, nomimmune to YF, which were kept in the Zika Forest during the time of the epizootic died of YF disease. The present observations indicate that YF is still present in Africa, and as such it still remains a potential menace to the human population. The epidemiological implications are discussed.