Yellow fever is a serious disease caused by the
yellow fever virus. Yellow fever is found in certain parts of Africa and South America.
How Do You Get Yellow Fever?
Yellow fever is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected humans or monkeys. Infected mosquitoes can then spread the yellow fever virus to humans when they bite.
Yellow fever is not contagious, meaning it is not passed directly from humans to other humans. Yellow fever is not spread through casual contact, such as touching or kissing a person with the virus.
Transmission of the yellow fever virus occurs in two main ways: urban (mosquito bites an infected human) and sylvatic (mosquito bites an infected monkey).
Yellow Fever Incubation Period
When a person becomes infected with the yellow fever virus, the virus begins to multiply inside the body. After three to six days, the symptoms of yellow fever can occur. This period between becoming infected and the start of yellow fever symptoms is called the incubation period of yellow fever.
Yellow fever symptoms vary among individuals. Some will have no symptoms, others may develop flu-like symptoms, and some may develop very serious yellow fever symptoms, including death.
In order to make a
yellow fever diagnosis, your doctor will ask questions about a number of things (including recent medical and travel history), perform a physical exam, and recommend certain tests. As part of diagnosing a
yellow fever virus infection, the doctor will also rule out other, more common causes of possible
yellow fever symptoms, such as the flu or
common cold.
Tests the doctor may order to help diagnose yellow fever can include:
- Blood tests
- Cerebrospinal fluid tests
- Electrocardiogram (EKG).
These individual tests will not definitely diagnose yellow fever, but they can be helpful. To make a definitive diagnosis of yellow fever, the doctor will draw a blood sample and send it to a commercial or public health laboratory for confirmation.
Treatment for Yellow Fever
There is currently no yellow fever treatment that can kill the virus. Therefore, treatment for yellow fever is focused on providing relief of symptoms as the body fights the yellow fever virus.
Most people recover without any long-term effects from the yellow fever infection. The overall yellow fever death rate is estimated to be between 5 and 10 percent; however, research scientists and doctors believe that the death rate might even be less. In a number of yellow fever cases, the infection causes no symptoms, or very mild symptoms, and people do not seek medical attention.
Yellow Fever Vaccination and Other Prevention Strategies
The best way to prevent yellow fever is with the yellow fever vaccine. Yellow fever is a very rare cause of illness in travelers, but most countries have regulations and requirements for yellow fever vaccination that must be met prior to entering the country.
Preventing mosquito bites also reduces your risk of getting yellow fever, along with other diseases that
mosquitoes can carry. Take the common-sense steps to reduce your risk, including the use of:
- Insect repellent
- Protective clothing
- Mosquito netting.
The first identified outbreak of yellow fever is believed to have occurred in Yucatan in 1648. In the more than 200 years that followed, yellow fever was considered one of the great
plagues of the world. As late as 1905, many southern cities in the United States experienced several thousand cases and approximately one thousand deaths per year.
One of the most famous yellow fever epidemics occurred in Philadelphia in 1793. This epidemic led to over 5,000 deaths within Philadelphia (about 10 percent of the population). About half of the residents had fled the city during the summer of 1793. Philadelphia experienced several more outbreaks of yellow fever (1796 and 1797), but these were not as severe. In 1798, Philadelphia experienced another severe yellow fever epidemic, killing 1,292 Philadelphians.
More Yellow Fever Information
Certain yellow fever topics that were mentioned previously have a hyperlink to additional eMedTV articles. Click on the specific link to view the yellow fever article. Other eMedTV articles on yellow fever include:
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