In these cases, the infection lasts only three to six days.But in 15% of cases, people enter a second, toxic phase of the disease characterized by recurring fever, this time accompanied by jaundice due to liver damage, as well as abdominal pain. Bleeding in the mouth, nose, the eyes, and the gastrointestinal tract cause vomit containing blood, hence the Spanish name for yellow fever, vómito negro ("black vomit"). There may also be kidney failure, hiccups, and delirium.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. Complication
Yellow fever can lead to death for 20% to 50% of those who develop severe disease. Jaundice, fatigue, heart rhythm problems, seizures and internal bleeding may also appear as complications of yellow fever during recovery time. Cause
Yellow fever is caused by yellow fever virus, an enveloped RNA virus 40–50 nm in width, the type species and namesake of the family Flaviviridae. It was the first illness shown to be transmissible by filtered human serum and transmitted by mosquitoes, by American doctor Walter Reed around 1900.
Considerable debate exists over whether the number of deaths caused by disease in the Haitian Revolution was exaggerated.Although yellow fever is most prevalent in tropical-like climates, the northern United States were not exempted from the fever. The first outbreak in English-speaking North America occurred in New York City in 1668. English colonists in Philadelphia and the French in the Mississippi River Valley recorded major outbreaks in 1669, as well as additional yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York City in the 18th and 19th centuries. The disease traveled along steamboat routes from New Orleans, causing some 100,000–150,000 deaths in total. The yellow fever epidemic of 1793 in Philadelphia, which was then the capital of the United States, resulted in the deaths of several thousand people, more than 9% of the population. One of these deaths was James Hutchinson, a physician helping to treat the population of the city. The national government fled the city to Trenton, New Jersey, including President George Washington. The southern city of New Orleans was plagued with major epidemics during the 19th century, most notably in 1833 and 1853. A major epidemic occurred in both New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana in 1873. Its residents called the disease "yellow jack".