Yellow fever and hepatitis b

General Discussion
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I got yellow fever vaccine two years before diagnosed with hepatitis B. Is there any relation for my infection? Some one clarify it for me please.
Thanx

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Hi Gongo,
Can you clarify what you mean by “any relation for my infection”? Hepatitis B and yellow fever are two different infections and I am not sure there are or is any evidence of a relation/link between the two. Yellow fever is caused from a bite of an infected mosquito with the virus, while hepatitis B is a blood to borne infection. There has to be a blood contact with an infected blood to get hepatitis B. As you can see from how each spreads, these two have nothing in common. There is no evidence that mosquitoes spread hepatitis B either. In a nutshell, I don’t think receiving the yellow fever vaccine led to your hepatitis B infection because the two infections are very different and are contracted differently as well; if that was your question. Hepatitis B virus can remain dormant in ones body for a very long time without any symptoms or signs, unless when one gets tested that they even become aware of it. Hope this helps. Bansah1.

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Hello Bansah1 thank you for your time and clarifications. I am confused because I remember it’s in this I read a discussion that is solders got hep b due to yellow fever vac contaminations, have you heard about this?

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@ Gongo,
No problem at all. I have not heard or seen anything like that, do you mind copying and pasting it here so we can see what the discussion was about?

I know personally that all soldiers are vaccinated against hepatitis B, yellow fever among other infections before they even begin their training or deployment. Thanks, Bansah1.

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Dear @Gongo,

I’m not sure but this may be referring to an epidemic of Hepatitis B that occurred during the 2nd world war in 1942 (see here: The Yellow Fever Vaccine Misadventure of 1942 - PubMed). In short, the USA vaccinated its soldiers with a yellow fever vaccine that was made using human serum as a stabiliser. During this time, Hepatitis B was not known, so couldn’t be screened for. This contamination meant that many people were exposed to Hepatitis B. After this mass exposure event, yellow fever vaccines were quickly switched to formulations without human serum (generally using chicken eggs instead), so today’s vaccines do not carry this risk any more.

Hope this helps,
Thomas

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Thank you @ThomasTu for your clear clarification. Ofcoz it helps to clear my confusion.

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Dear all,

I have been on Tenofovir for almost 3 years now. Since March 2022 HBsAg DNA has not been identified in my blood tests. ALT/AST is normal. I have to go for a business trip to Africa where the yellow fever vaccination is required. Is it safe to do or I should avoid it?

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Hi OlgaP,
I believe getting the yellow fever vaccination will be important for you to get since you are travelling to Africa, but if you have concerns about it, it would be best to discuss this with your doctor so that they can advise you on what would be best for you.

Thanks,
Mylisa

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Dear @olgap,

As mentioned above, the yellow fever vaccines are safe since their replacement several decades ago.

Thomas