Yellow Fever
Overview
Yellow fever is a type of hemorrhagic fever, caused by a virus. The infection occurs most commonly in Africa and South America. Yellow fever is usually a mild disease, but sometimes it can become more serious, leading to death. Getting a vaccine for Yellow fever can help in the prevention of the disease.
Causes
Yellow fever is instigated by a virus that is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. These mosquitos breed even in clean water. Since the virus infects humans and monkeys, the mosquito transmits the virus between humans and monkeys.
Symptoms
The virus has an incubation time of 3-6 days, after which enters an acute phase.
Acute phase symptoms:
- Fever
- Headache
- Muscle aches (Especially in the back and knees)
- Photosensitivity
- Nausea, vomiting
- Loss of appetite
- Dizziness
- Red eyes, face, or tongue
Usually, these symptoms resolve within a few days, but sometimes, after the acute phase, the patient enters into a life-threatening toxic phase. In the toxic phase, symptoms of the acute phase, along with new, more severe symptoms occur.
Toxic phase symptoms:
- Jaundice
- Abdominal pain, and hematemesis
- Decreased urination
- Epistaxis
- Bradycardia
- Hepatic and Renal failure
- Brain dysfunction (Delirium, Seizures, and Coma)
Diagnosis
Diagnosis can be accomplished by finding the virus or antibodies against the virus in the blood of the patient.
Treatment
Treatment is mainly supportive as antivirals haven’t proven to be helpful.
