Most persons with yellow fever recover. From 15% to 50% of patients with severe yellow fever disease die, usually within two weeks of illness.

Yellow fever is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It has caused large epidemics in tropical areas of Africa and the Americas.

The Travel Doctor is a licensed yellow fever station in California. If you receive yellow fever vaccine, we will give you an international yellow fever certificate.

Every year about 200,000 cases of yellow fever are recorded worldwide, and 30,000 of these die, but the figures are underestimated because of faulty record keeping.

Yellow fever is preventable by a relatively safe, effective vaccine. The single-dose 'live' vaccine is recommended for people 9 months of age and older. The vaccine becomes protective after 10 days, and provides immunity to a vaccinated individual for 10 years or more.

Yellow fever is difficult to recognize, especially during the early stages. It can be easily confused with malaria, typhoid, rickettsial diseases, hemorrhagic viral fevers (e.g. Ebola), dengue, leptospirosis, and viral hepatitis. A laboratory analysis is required to confirm a suspect case. Blood tests can detect antibodies that are produced in response to the infection.

There is no specific treatment for yellow fever. Treatment for symptoms may include intravenous fluids, blood products for severe bleeding, and dialysis for renal failure.

Symptoms occur within three to six days after infection. Initial symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, headache, vomiting, and backache. As the disease progresses, the pulse slows and weakens. After three to four days, most patients improve and their symptoms disappear. However, about 15% of cases enter a "toxic phase within 24 hours. This phase is characterized by bleeding of the gums and bloody urine, and can progress to delirium, seizures, and coma.

Only a handful of cases have been documented in the U.S. in the past 80 years, all unvaccinated people that traveled to or came from high-risk areas. People are at risk if they travel to an area where yellow fever is seen in humans or monkeys ( endemic areas) and there are mosquitoes to spread the virus. Even so, the risk for illness when traveling to these areas is considered small.

Fever is the first weapon in the arsenal used when foreign substances invade a body. Chemicals released by the foreign substances stimulate the hypothalamus to increase the body temperature. The hypothalamus is the "thermostat" of the body. The hypothalamus can raise or lower body temperature through chemical signals to other systems to make the changes necessary. A fever is the response to foreign substances, bacteria or viruses in the body. Fever has benefits.

Yellow fever virus (YFV) has probably existed for thousands of years. It evolved in Africa from other, closely related viruses.

Contagious means that something can be transmitted or passed directly from one person to another. YFV is only transferred from a person with YFV to another person by biting mosquitoes. Therefore, YFV is not "contagious" in the usual sense.

Infection with YFV can affect your liver and its normal functioning. People who are sick with yellow fever in this way may be jaundiced. Jaundice is when excess yellow pigments (bilirubin) from a damaged liver color the skin, making a person look yellow. However, many other diseases that are not yellow fever also cause jaundice.

If you travel to a place where you can get yellow fever (South America or Africa) you prevent infection by getting vaccinated before you travel and by trying to avoid mosquito bites.

Yellow Fever vaccine providers must receive authorization from DHEC’s State Epidemiologist. This is the procedure: The requesting physician (must be a S.C. licensed physician) must send a letter of request to the DHEC State Epidemiologist – James J. Gibson, MD, MPH, Bureau of Disease Control, Box 101106, Columbia, S.C. 29211. The letter should request authorization to become a Yellow Fever vaccine provider in S.C.. Upon Dr.

Jungle yellow fever is mainly a disease of monkeys. It is spread from infected mosquitoes to monkeys in the tropical rain forest. Jungle yellow fever is rare and occurs mostly in persons who work in tropical rain forests who are bitten by mosquitoes infected by monkeys. Urban yellow fever is a disease of humans and the cause of most yellow fever outbreaks. Aedes aegypti is the type of mosquito that usually carries yellow fever from human to human.

The risk for a traveler of acquiring yellow fever depends in part on the destination, season, outdoor activities while traveling, and the rate of transmission at the time of travel. For example, in West Africa, the most dangerous time of year is during the late rainy and early dry seasons (July to October), while virus transmission is highest during the rainy season (January to March) in Brazil.

People who suffer from dengue fever have no risk of death but some of them develop Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever or Dengue Shock Syndrome. In some of these cases death can occur. With proper treatment, the patients with Dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome can recover fully. Good treatment provided in time can save most lives.