Developing the 17D yellow fever vaccine

By the end of the 19th century, the feared yellow fever (often known as ‘yellow jack’ owing to the yellow quarantine flag on infected ships) had reached South America, the USA and Europe. Caused by a zoonotic flavivirus spread by an infected female mosquito, mostly Aedes aegypti, the slave trade and global markets had helped to spread the disease around the world. Yellow fever is now endemic in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa and tropical South America, with the vast majority of cases occurring on the African subcontinent.

Unsuccessful attempts to create a vaccine for yellow fever — including vaccines against a spirochaete or other bacteria — date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the causative agent of yellow fever had been identified.

​Read more in Nature Milestones