What Is Yellow Fever? What Causes Yellow Fever?

Yellow fever is an acute systemic illness – a hemorrhagic fever – caused by the Flavivirus. Acute means it comes on (onset) rapidly, while systemic means it affects the whole body. In severe cases yellow fever causes a high fever, bleeding into the skin and the death of cells in the liver and kidney. Liver damage results in severe jaundice – yellowing of the skin; hence the name “yellow fever”. The mosquito Aedes aegypti, and some other species transmit the virus to humans…

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