Welcome to Blogs

YELLOW FEVER

Yellow Fever is a flu-like death-defying disease that is spread by mosquitoes. The disease is seriously dangerous and can often prove to be fatal. It is characterized by high fever and jaundice. As in Jaundice, the skin and eyes of the victim become yellow, hence it is called Yellow Fever. It is one of the common diseases in Argentina. The disease is curable. However, mostly it is prevented using the yellow fever vaccine. Nevertheless, it is still prevalent in certain parts of Africa as well as in Argentina. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 200K people become infected each year. Most cases occur in thirty-two countries in Africa.

Causes of Yellow Fever

Yellow Fever is caused by Flavivirus and is transmitted when an infected mosquito bites a person. Biting an infected human or monkey causes the mosquito to be infected as well. However, the disease can not spread from one person to another. The mosquitoes normally breed in tropical rainforests, humid, and semi-humid environments. The increased contact between human and infected mosquito can cause a small scale epidemics. The disease is normally infected where the people are not vaccinated for yellow fever.

Symptoms of Yellow Fever

As the fever develops quickly, the symptoms of the disease normally become appearable after three to six days of exposure. Symptoms of yellow fever are similar to influenza virus. These are listed below:

• Headaches
• Muscle aches
• Joint aches
• Chills
• Fever

Typically, there are two phases of the disease. These phases are Acute phase and Toxic phase. Usually, the acute phase endures for three to four days. For the acute phase, the symptoms include headaches, muscle aches, joint aches, a fever, flushing, a loss of appetite, shivers, and backaches. When the phase gets over, the symptoms will start vanishing. Most of the people get recovered from this stage of yellow fever.

As most of the people get recovered from the acute phase, but some people get involved in a more serious version of this disease. Symptoms for Toxic phase are tricky. They might get disappeared after one day and then again get back along with some additional symptoms. These symptoms include decreased urination, abdominal pain, vomiting (sometimes might be bloody), heart rhythm problem, seizures, delirium, and bleeding from the nose, mouth or eyes. The phase is fatal but only fifteen percent of people get entered in this phase.

Diagnosing and Treating Yellow Fever

Just when you experience flu-like symptoms, you must seek the doctor. The doctor will inquire you about the symptoms you have been recently experiencing. If they found Yellow Fever, they will prescribe you a blood test. These blood tests will determine if there is any virus in your body or not.

There is no proper cure for Yellow Fever. For treating, you assist your immune system in fighting off the infection by:

• Getting enough fluids, possibly through your veins
• Getting oxygens
• Maintaining a healthy blood pressure
• Getting blood transfusions
• Having dialysis if you experience kidney failure
• Getting treatment for other infections that may develop