Yellow fever virus found in semen of Brazilian patient.

Yellow fever virus found in semen of Brazilian patient.Researchers in Brazil recently detected yellow fever virus RNA in urine and semen samples from a convalescent patient in Brazil. Yellow fever is normally detected in blood, but urine has been used to confirm yellow fever infection in humans, researchers from two universities and a research institute in São Paulo noted in their report. But yellow fever was not among the 27 viruses previously identified to persist in semen. The researchers said their findings “suggest that semen can be a useful clinical material for diagnosis of yellow fever and indicate the need for testing urine and semen samples from patients with advanced disease.” “Such testing could improve diagnostics, reduce false-negative results and strengthen the reliability of epidemiologic data during ongoing and future outbreaks,” they wrote in Emerging Infectious Diseases. A recent yellow fever outbreak in Brazil was fueled by cases among monkeys in the Amazon basin and other tropical forests in Brazil, rather than person-to-person transmission involving mosquitoes. Following a large vaccination campaign, Brazil declared an end to the outbreak in September.