Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) are developing a New treatment for yellow fever what can reduce mortality from the disease by up to 84% . In an article published in late January in the scientific journal Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, the technique proved to be a promising and viable strategy for treating the severe form of the disease.
THE work investigated the impact of a technique called therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in the treatment of yellow fever in patients with acute liver failure, a complication with high mortality rate. The purpose of the researchers was to understand whether different TPE strategies could improve patients’ outcomes.
In an acute liver failure, the liver is not able to filter the blood properly, leading to the accumulation of toxins in the blood plasma. Given this, the new treatment is to isolate infected plasma and replace it with a healthy donor plasma.
To understand if the technique would be effective, the researchers conducted a study with 66 patients, divided into three groups: those who received standard treatment into intensive care (group 1); Those who received standard treatment with high volume TPE for three consecutive days (group 2), and those who received standard treatment with intensive CT, with two sessions per day and additional infusion of frozen fresh plasma (group 3).
According to the researchers, group 3 presented significantly lower mortality (14%) compared to other groups: Group 1 had a mortality of 85%, while in group 2 this value was 82%.
For scientists, the results show that therapeutic plasma exchange can be a promising strategy to reduce mortality in serious forms of yellow fever, with a 84% reduction compared to standard treatment.
However, the study still has some limitations, such as a small sample of patients and being an observational study, ie without a randomized clinical trial. More research is needed to confirm the benefits of intensive therapeutic plasma exchange and define precise guidelines for its use.
What is yellow fever?
Yellow fever is an acute febrile infectious disease that can lead to death in its severe form. It is caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes, having two transmission cycles, urban and wild.
In the urban cycle, transmission occurs from urban vectors, such as the Aedes aegypti – The same responsible for transmitting dengue, zika and chikungunya.
Already in the wild cycle, nonhuman primates (monkeys) are the main hosts of the virus, but they are not responsible for the transmission. Mosquitoes with wild eating habits, being the Haemagogus genres and knowledge, chop the monkeys and transmit the viruses. In such cases, man can participate as an accidental host when entering areas of forest without being vaccinated.
According to the Ministry of Health, the cycle of the disease in Brazil is currently wild, with transmission through mosquitoes of Haemagogus and Sabethes genres. The last cases of urban yellow fever were recorded in Brazil in 1942.
Symptoms include:
- Sudden fever;
- Chills;
- Intense headache;
- Back pain;
- Body pain;
- Nausea and vomiting;
- Fatigue;
- Weakness.
Yellow fever: what it is, symptoms and how the vaccine works
This content was originally published in new treatment for yellow fever can reduce by 84% risk of death on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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