Yellow fever; Causes, symptoms, diagnoses and treatment.

Greetings to everyone, I'm excited as always to be making another entry on this great platform, its my pleasure doing this.

Today, I'll be writing about a disease condition that is well known, it is usually transmitted by a certain type of mosquito and has the capacity of damaging the liver, hence, causing multiple organ failure. This disease is known as yellow fever.

What is yellow fever

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Yellow fever is a serious life threatening viral disease, its transmitted by the aedes mosquito and is characterised by high fever and yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice), hence the name, yellow fever.

It might interest you to know that the aedes aegypti mosquito which is the causative agent for yellow fever, also transmits the dengue and zika viruses. This mosquitoes are prevalent in the sub haran Africa and certain parts of the latino America.

This disease has no cure, but can be prevented through vaccination with the yellow fever vaccine which is usually administered once and lasts through out lifetime.

According to the WHO, there are about 200,000 cases of yellow fever yearly worldwide, having a mortality rate of 30,000.

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Causes

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Yellow fever is caused by the flavivirus , this virus is transmitted by an infected aedes aegyptic mosquito. This mosquito becomes infected when they bite animal like monkeys who are carriers of the virus, and in turn spreads the virus across the human specie.

Human to human transmission of the disease is not possible, however, increased contact between the infected mosquitoes and humans can result in a small scale epidemic, particularly in unvaccinated regions.

Symptoms

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The symptoms of yellow fever varies according to the phases of the disease. There are basically 3 phases of the disease, each with it own symptom.

First phase: this phase usually lasts for 3 to 4 days, the likely symptoms observed during this phase include;

• Fever
• headache
• muscle aches
• chills
• Joint aches
• vomitting

Second phase: This phase is otherwise known as the acute phase, it usually lasts for 72 hours, about 75% of patients always recover. The likely symptoms of this phase include;

• backaches
• Joint aches
• headaches
• fever
• muscle aches
• flushing

Third place: This is the final stage of the disease, the rate of survival in this phase is usually very low, only about 15% of patients gets to recover from this stage. This phase is otherwise known as the toxic phase. The symptoms includes;

• jaundice
• haemorrhage
• shock
• vomiting of blood
• seizures
• decreased urination
• severe abdominal pain
• delirium
• nose and mouth bleeding

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Diagnoses

Diagnosis for yellow fever is usually done through the help of an health expert. The symptoms are usually analysed based on the severity, to ascertain the stage of the disease.

If the health expert suspects the disease, a confirmatory test, requiring a blood examination for the virus is then carried out.

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Treatment

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Just as was outlined earlier, there are no known cure for this disease, treatment is carried out to provide symptomatic relieve of the underlining symptoms and not to cure the disease itself. Treatment procedures are tailored to boost the patient's immune system in order to fight the virus. Depending on the stage of the disease, total remission can be possible. Recovery is also dependent on the patient's immune system.

The best way of preventing this disease is usually through vaccination. Vaccination is always done once, this one time jab can provide immunity against the virus through out ones lifetime. However, this vaccine is not recommended for immuno compromised individuals like people with cancer and HIV.

Conclusion

Yellow fever is a very deadly viral disease, its onset is usually fast and rapid. It is imperative to get vaccinated for yellow fever as it has no cure. The survival rate is low especially when its not diagnosed early.

Before travelling to a mosquito endemic region, endeavour to have yourself vaccinated.