One of the scariest viral inflections is yellow-eyed yellow fever (arbovirus of the flavivirus genus) spread through mosquitoes. However, thanks to yellow fever vaccines, which offer lifetime immunity from a single dosage, it is now primarily confined to a small region of the world. Nevertheless, in South America and Africa, it still inflects an estimated 200,000 people. Of those numbers, it is estimated that 15% will develop severe conditions, and half of these will die due to its toll on their health.
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What is Yellow Fever?
Yellow fever is a viral infection spread through mosquitos native to a specific region (South America and Africa). Left untreated or unvaccinated, a person with yellow fever can die of complications due to viral toll on their body. However, thankfully there is a proven vaccine that anyone can get, and once obtained, they are immune for life from a single shot.
What Are The Symptoms?
Yellow fever earns its name from the distinct yellow eyes of its victims and brings a host of symptoms which vary in severity. This fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease that affects the organs, damages cardiovascular systems and impacts the body’s functioning independently without medical aid. Symptoms appear about four to six days after infection, clearing after a week in the mild cases and two for the severe ones.
Yellow fever symptoms:
- Fever
- Headache
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Sore abdomen
- Sore muscles
- Chills
- Fatigue
- Loss of appetite
- Bleeding
- Delirium
- Jaundice
- Fatal heart
- Liver condition
- Kidney condition
Where is Yellow Fever Found?
Yellow fever is spread through the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) biting a host at sunset or sundown and causing the spread of the virus. This mosquito species is only found in South America and Africa, making it endemic. So if you plan to travel to any of those countries, you should get vaccinated against yellow fever.
What is The Yellow Fever Vaccine?
A Single Shot Vaccine
The remarkable thing about the yellow fever vaccine is that it protects those that get it from catching the inflection and doesn’t require booster shots to keep protected.
The Vaccine is Intermuscular, Quick and Painless!
An authorised clinic and doctor can only administer the yellow fever vaccine, so you will know that only the most skilled hands do the shot you receive. They understand weariness around needles or vaccines, so they will be happy to help ease any worries and answer questions.
99% Immunity
Since the 1930s, the vaccine has been distributed to 600 million people and has a proven 99% immunity rate by day thirty after your shot, so even if you are doubtful, you can’t argue about the data.
Serious Side Effects Minimal
Even if the yellow fever vaccine is safe, with serious side effects rare, there are some cases where shots have led to severe illness or death. However, these are rare and more common in people over sixty or with more severe health concerns.
Those Excluded From The Vaccine
- Infants under nine months
- Pregnant women
- Severe egg allergies
- With severe immunodeficiency
- A case-by-case basis for those over sixty