Neurological adverse events temporally associated to mass vaccination against yellow fever in Juiz de Fora, Brazil, 1999–2005

The identification of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) and their prompt investigation are important to allow a timely and scientifically based response to the users of immunization services. This article presents an analysis of notified AEFI cases between 1999 and 2005 and their temporal association with 2001 yellow fever vaccination campaign, AEFI notification attributed to yellow fever vaccination rose from 0.06 to 1.32 per 100,000 vaccinees in Brazil, between 1998 and 2000. During the 2001 yellow fever mass vaccination campaign held in Juiz de Fora, Brazil, 12 cases of aseptic meningitis were temporally associated to yellow fever vaccination, but clinical and laboratory data were not available to confirm nor deny causality. Epidemiological studies associated to enhanced surveillance and standardized protocols should take advantage of public health interventions like mass vaccination campaigns and implementation of new vaccination strategies in order to assess and investigate vaccine safety.