What is yellow fever?
Yellow fever is a viral infection spread by mosquitoes.
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You get yellow fever from being bitten by an infected mosquito
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Mosquitoes in tropical areas of central Africa, Central America, and South America carry yellow fever
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It causes headache, dizziness, muscle aches, and fever
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Sometimes, your skin and eyes turn yellow (jaundice) because the disease affects your liver
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Yellow fever can be deadly if it severely affects your internal organs
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The best ways to prevent yellow fever are by getting the vaccine (shot) and avoiding mosquito bites
What causes yellow fever?
What are the symptoms of yellow fever?
Some people don’t have any symptoms.
Early symptoms include:
These symptoms go away after a few days. Most people have no more symptoms and recover from yellow fever. Other people get more serious symptoms.
In severe cases, the virus can affect many of your organs, including your liver, kidneys, and heart. Later symptoms of yellow fever include:
How can doctors tell if I have yellow fever?
How do doctors treat yellow fever?
There's no cure for yellow fever. Doctors will treat your symptoms and give you:
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Fluids by vein to keep your blood pressure up
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Medicines to treat or stop bleeding, such as vitamin K, which helps your blood to clot
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Sometimes, put you on a machine to take over for your kidneys (dialysis) and remove waste from your body
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Keep you in a room that is screened and sprayed with bug spray to prevent mosquitoes from spreading the virus to other people
How can I prevent yellow fever?
Avoid mosquito bites
Get the vaccine if you're going to an area with yellow fever
A vaccine is available to prevent yellow fever and should be taken 3 to 4 weeks before you go.
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In the United States, the yellow fever vaccine is given at travel medicine clinics, located throughout the country
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Most people can get the vaccine, with the exception of babies younger than 6 months old, pregnant women, or people with weak immune systems—talk to your doctor about getting the vaccine
