Yellow fever, the original viral haemorrhagic fever, was one of the most feared lethal diseases before the development of an effective vaccine.

Today the disease still affects as many as 200,000 persons annually in tropical regions of Africa and South America, and poses a significant hazard to unvaccinated travellers to these areas.

Yellow fever is transmitted in a cycle involving monkeys and mosquitoes, but human beings can also serve as the viraemic host for mosquito infection.

Recent increases in the density and distribution of the urban mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti, as well as the rise in air travel increase the risk of introduction and spread of yellow fever to North and Central America, the Caribbean and Asia. Here I review the clinical features of the disease, its pathogenesis and pathophysiology.

As a zoonosis, yellow fever cannot be eradicated, but reduction of the human disease burden is achievable through routine childhood vaccination in endemic countries, with a low cost for the benefits obtained.

References

 Monath TP. Yellow fever: an update. Lancet Infect Dis. 2001 Aug;1(1):11-20. PMID: #11871403#