Introduction

Yellow fever is a viral disease. It is caused by the yellow fever virus. It spreads to humans through infected female mosquito bite, which is the sole yellow fever cause.

Infected female mosquitoes usually bite during the daytime. It has roots in tropical countries of Africa and South America and has caused large epidemics in these parts of the world. Generally, yellow fever infections are mild.

The disease has a potential of causing life threatening, severe illness. Yellow fever symptoms can vary among individuals. Severe yellow fever can prove fatal.

There are no specific treatments for yellow fever. However, it can be prevented through yellow fever immunization vaccine.

Side effects of yellow fever vaccination make it unsafe for infants below nine months, pregnant women and for those suffering from immunodeficiency.

Some experts argue that the death risk posed by yellow fever is more serious than the side effects of yellow fever immunization vaccine.

Yellow fever is diagnosed through a blood test.

Yellow Fever Cause

Yellow fever is caused through an infected female mosquito bite which contains the yellow fever virus.

Yellow fever symptoms start appearing three to six days following the bite. People working in tropical rain forests are more prone to jungle yellow fever which is caused by mosquitoes that have bitten monkeys affected with yellow fever.

In urban areas, people affected by yellow fever are bitten by mosquitoes which spread the disease further to other people. Briefly put, infected mosquito bite is the main yellow fever cause.

Symptom of Yellow Fever

Symptom of yellow fever can be mild to severe and develop within three to six days of an infected mosquito bite. As such, there is no specific yellow fever cure.

Yellow fever is known to cause life threatening illness and can prove fatal in absence of timely treatment.

There is a brief recovery period following treatment but this can quickly be overshadowed by a relapse and lead to bleeding, shock, kidney or liver failure. Liver failure causes jaundice and this is the reason for the disease being named yellow fever.

This state of secondary infection is usually followed by death.

The most common symptom of yellow fever includes:

• Headache
• Chills
• High fever
• Backache
• Vomiting
• Muscle aches

Treatments for Yellow Fever

There are no particular treatments for yellow fever. Diagnosis of yellow fever is done through a blood test.

The medications prescribed following a diagnosis usually alleviate the symptom to render comfort to the patients.

Taking adequate rest and drinking lots of fluids forms a good part of yellow fever treatment.

Vaccination is viewed as the single most important preventive measure for yellow fever.

Traveler to and from Africa and South America are required to have a certificate of yellow fever immunization vaccine.