Flavivirus Vaccines
Scott B. Halstead
from: Molecular Virology and Control of Flaviviruses (Edited by: Pei-Yong Shi). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2012)
Abstract
Eight flaviviruses cause significant morbidity and mortality around the globe: yellow fever (YF), Japanese encephalitis (JE), Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), dengue 1, 2, 3, 4 and West Nile (WN). Four, YF, JE, TBE and WN are zoonoses, with the consequence that vaccines are the only means of protecting humans. The successful YF 17D vaccine, introduced in 1937, produced dramatic reductions in epidemic activity. Effective killed JE and TBE vaccines were introduced in the middle of the 20th century. Unacceptable adverse events have prompted change from a mouse-brain killed JE vaccine to safer and more effective second generation JE vaccines. These may come into wide use to effectively prevent this severe disease in the huge populations of Asia - North, South and Southeast. The dengue viruses produce many millions of infections annually due to transmission by a successful global mosquito vector. As mosquito control has failed, several dengue vaccines are in varying stages of development. A tetravalent chimeric vaccine that splices structural genes of the four dengue viruses onto a 17D YF backbone is in Phase III clinical testing. For each of the eight flaviviruses, clinical disease, epidemiology, vaccine development history, vaccine useage, precautions and adverse events are briefly presented read more ...
