Yellow Fever Causes

Yellow fever, otherwise known as yellow jack or American Plague, is a viral infection caused by a virus called flavivirus. It is a hemorrhagic fever and is most commonly seen to occur in areas of Africa and South America, especially the coastlines. It is called yellow fever since it tends to display signs of jaundice more often than not. Other symptoms usually are fever and vomiting; however in extreme cases the patient will suffer from kidney failure and may also bleed. The symptoms usually start appearing within three to six days. The disease was a major epidemic especially in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th century, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Despite the fact that medical research has progressed so much, there still is no specific cure for yellow fever. Prevention through vaccination is the only tool humans have to fight this deadly virus. Since it is a serious affliction and causes death in almost fifty percent of the cases, medical supervision is a must once you start displaying symptoms of yellow fever.

It is commonly believed that the Aedes Aegypti mosquito is the root cause of the virus. While this maybe partly true, it needs to be understood that the Aedes Aegypti mosquito is only a carrier of the virus. The original host is either a human or monkey. When the mosquito bites such a host, it contracts the virus which enters its bloodstream and circulates and settles in its salivary glands. Such an infected mosquito then spreads the virus to any other human or monkey that it feeds on. Once bitten by an infected mosquito the chances of it developing into full blown yellow fever are about five to twenty percent. In most cases, the transmission of the virus is so mild that it does not result in the affliction of the disease. In yet other cases, the infection is successfully fought off by the host’s immune system. Anyone may contract the disease; however the elderly stand a much higher risk.

The most common cause of yellow fever is essentially traveling to an area that is prone to the virus. This would include the sub-Saharan Africa and parts of the South American continent like Haiti. Even if there are no reports of yellow fever incidences in these areas, the reason could be that the populace has been vaccinated and thus your risk of contracting the disease is still very much real. Vaccination is a must 10 to 14 days prior to traveling to prone zones since exposure of a non-vaccinated person to a virus prone area is one of the biggest causes of the spread of yellow fever.