Yellow Fever: Prevention in Transplant Candidates and Emerging Treatment Data for Liver Transplant

Abstract

Despite the availability of an efficacious vaccine, yellow fever continues to pose an emerging human health issue, with outbreaks in Africa and South America. Although the majority of cases are oligosymptomatic, severe cases present high mortality, reaching an overall lethality of 50%. The mainstay for yellow fever control remains adequate vaccine coverage. Because the yellow fever vaccine is composed of live, attenuated virus, it is contraindicated in solid organ transplant (SOT) and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients; the vaccine should be preferably administered prior to transplantation. However, transplantation candidates should be evaluated regarding the safety and efficacy of vaccination. In this chapter, we review the current literature