Conventional RT-PCR for Yellow Fever Virus

The yellow fever virus (YFV), prototype of the genus Orthoflavivirus (family Flaviviridae), contains a positive-sense RNA genome that is translated as a single polyprotein which comprises approximately 11,000 nucleotides, encoding 3411 amino acids. In recent years, a number of molecular assays have been reported for YFV RNA detection, with different levels of sensitivity and specificity. Reverse transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) assays are the most frequent methods for YFV molecular diagnostics currently. Molecular methods of diagnostics for viral genome detection offer a fast, sensitive, and highly specific alternative to serological assays for early diagnostics during the viremic phase of infection or in fatal cases tissues. This chapter presents some conventional RT-PCR protocols used in molecular diagnostics, among the several available in the literature.