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Characterization of the First Complete Genome Sequence of Yellow Fever Virus (YFV) isolate in Sierra Leone: Implications for Public Health

Sandi, J. D.; Brock-Fisher, T. M.; Kallon, T. M. P. S.; Paye, M. F.; Fofanah, I. U.; Nosamiefan, D.; Kamara, M. S.; Teh, A. J.; Turay, A.; Wilkason, C.; Baudi, I.; Tomkins-Tinch, C.; I'Anson, C.; Pekar, J. E.; Ozonoff, A.; Park, D.; Happi, C.; Sabeti, P. C.; Grant, D. S.

2025-12-06 public and global health
10.64898/2025.12.02.25340656 medRxiv
Show abstract

Yellow fever virus (YFV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus that causes severe hemorrhagic disease, is endemic in parts of South America and Africa, yet genomic data from Sierra Leone is lacking despite ongoing surveillance. Using hybrid-capture metagenomic sequencing, we generated a complete 10,611-bp YFV genome (98% coverage) from an adult male patient who reported to the Kailahun Government Hospital with fever and muscle pain. Phylogenetic analysis assigned the genome to West African Clade V via the YFV Nextstrain build. Compared with other West African isolates, the Sierra Leone genome contained 57 substitutions, three of which were non-synonymous (NS2b: N79S, NS3: V515I, and RdRp: A643V). Bayesian phylogenetics estimated the time to the most recent common ancestor with the closest sequences from Senegal and the Netherlands as January 14, 2001 (95% HPD: December 17, 1987 - April 28, 2009), suggesting long-standing, cryptic transmission. Together, these findings underscore the need for expanded genomic surveillance to monitor YFV spread, evolution, and potential impacts on vaccine performance.

Published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (predicted rank #1) · training set

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