Table of Contents
How does yellow fever affect the liver and kidneys?
Yellow fever is a hemorrhagic condition that can lead to a high fever, bleeding into the skin, and cell death in the liver and kidneys. If enough liver cells die, liver damage occurs, leading to jaundice, a condition in which the skin takes on a yellowish color.
What does yellow fever do to the kidney?
Yellow fever causes a pan-systemic febrile illness, with hepatic, renal and myocardial lesions. In more severe cases, internal hemorrhage, kidney failure, shock, coma or even death can occur11 . In the most severe cases, the mortality rate is between 20-50%15 .
Who was most affected by yellow fever?
Yellow fever epidemics caused terror, economic disruption, and some 100,000-150,000 deaths. Recent white immigrants to southern port cities were the most vulnerable; local whites and blacks enjoyed considerable resistance.
What cells does yellow fever virus infect?
Yellow fever virus enters through the bite of a mosquito where it can remain dormant for 6 to 8 days causing massive viremia or quick infection of host cells, including dendritic cells of the lymph nodes and begins the acute stages of disease [2].
What is the survival rate of yellow fever?
Among those who develop jaundice, the fatality rate is 20 to 50%, while the overall fatality rate is about 3 to 7.5%. Severe cases may have a mortality greater than 50%. Surviving the infection provides lifelong immunity, and normally results in no permanent organ damage.
Can humans transmit yellow fever?
Yellow fever is spread by the bite of infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. A mosquito becomes infected when it bites a person who has yellow fever in his or her blood. Direct spread of yellow fever from one person to another does not occur.
How did they cure yellow fever in 1793?
Benjamin Rush did find his own treatment for Yellow Fever by October. By blood leeching and purging patients Dr. Rush decreased mortality. In some cases, he would remove a very high proportion of blood from the body.
How does yellow fever affect the heart?
In mild cases, yellow fever causes a fever, headache, nausea and vomiting. But yellow fever can become more serious, causing heart, liver and kidney problems along with bleeding. Up to 50% of people with the more-severe form of yellow fever die of the disease.
How does yellow fever cause disease?
The virus is spread to people by the bite of an infected mosquito. Yellow fever is a very rare cause of illness in U.S. travelers. Illness ranges from a fever with aches and pains to severe liver disease with bleeding and yellowing skin (jaundice).