Yellow fever

Virus

The yellow fever virus, which is one of the flaviviruses, is the virus.

Transmission

The most frequent mode of transmission to humans is by mosquitoes. They can even pass the virus on to the next mosquito generation. As a result of the increase in international travel there has been a rapid increase in the number of the diseased in the past years.

Clinical picture

There is merely a mild course of the disease in the majority of people who have been infected (and primarily the local population) including flu-like symptoms. If the course is severe there is high fever, headaches and joint pain, vomiting and bradycardia, which is typical, after the incubation period of 3 to 6 days. Moreover, in a second stage, there can be renal failure, icterus and in some cases bleeding from the stomach (vomiting of blood) and the intestines. The mortality here is between 10-80% (Martin Hirte: Impfen pro&contra , 2001 S. 294)