Circulation of yellow fever virus in Benin city, Edo state Nigeria

Yellow fever (YF) is one of the most acute viral hemorrhagic diseases of the 18th and 19th centuries, which continues to cause severe morbidity and mortality in Africa. After 21 years of no reported cases of yellow fever in Nigeria, till 2017 where a case was confirmed in Kwara State, also in November 2018,WHO was informed of a cluster of suspected yellow fever cases and deaths in Edo state, Nigeria. The study was among all age group attending health centres in Benin City, Edo state. A total of 280 blood samples were collected from consented febrile patients and were screened for antibodies to Zika virus using rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kits. Blood samples positive to Zika virus (IgM/IgG RDT), were subjected to molecular characterization. Using the flavividae family primers, six (6) samples where confirmed positive by Hemi-nested reverse transcription PCR (hnRT-PCR) sequencing. Nucleotide sequence blast revealed the sequenceswere similar to Yellow fever virus strains. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the yellow fever virus sequences are closely related to the African strains. Despite the safe and effective yellow fever vaccine, yellow fever virus is seen to be in circulation, hence the need for continues mass vaccination.