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Medical Encyclopedia:

Yellow Fever

Definition

Yellow fever is a severe infectious disease, caused by a virus called a "flavivirus." This flavivirus can cause outbreaks of epidemic proportions throughout Africa and tropical America. The first written evidence of such an epidemic occurred in the Yucatan in 1648. Since that time, much has been learned about the interesting transmission patterns of this devastating illness.

Description

In order to understand how yellow fever is passed, several terms need to be defined. The word "host" refers to an animal that can be infected with a particular disease. The term "vector" refers to an organism which can carry a particular disease-causing agent (such as a virus or bacteria) without actually developing the disease. The vector can then pass the virus or bacteria on to a new host.

Many of the common illnesses in the United States (including the common cold, many viral causes of diarrhea, and influenza or "flu") are spread via direct passage of the causative virus between human beings. Yellow fever, however, cannot be passed directly from one infected human being to another. Instead, the virus responsible for yellow fever requires an intermediate vector, a mosquito, which carries the virus from one host to another.

The hosts of yellow fever include both humans and monkeys. The cycle of yellow fever transmission occurs as follows: an infected monkey is bitten by a tree-hole breeding mosquito. This mosquito acquires the virus, and can pass the virus on to any number of other monkeys that it may bite. When a human is bitten by such a mosquito, the human may acquire the virus. In the case of South American yellow fever, the infected human may return to the city, where an urban mosquito (Aedes aegypti) serves as a viral vector, spreading the infection rapidly by biting humans.

— Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt, MD


 
 
Dictionary: yellow fever

n.

An infectious tropical disease caused by an arbovirus transmitted by mosquitoes of the genera Aedes, especially A. aegypti, and Haemagogus and characterized by high fever, jaundice, and often gastrointestinal hemorrhaging. Also called yellow jack.


 
Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Yellow fever

An acute, febrile, mosquito-borne viral disease characterized in severe cases by jaundice, albuminuria, and hemorrhage. Inapparent infections also occur.

The agent is a flavivirus, an arbovirus of group B. The virus multiplies in mosquitoes, which remain infectious for life. After the mosquito ingests a virus-containing blood meal, an interval of 12–18 days (called the extrinsic incubation period) is required for it to become infectious. See also Animal virus; Arboviral encephalitides.

The virus enters the body through a mosquito bite and multiplies in lymph nodes, circulates in the blood, and localizes in the liver, spleen, kidney, bone marrow, and lymph glands. The severity of the disease and the major signs and symptoms which appear depend upon where the virus localizes and how much cell destruction occurs. The incubation period is 3–6 days. At the onset, the individual has fever, chills, headache, and backache, followed by nausea and vomiting. A short period of remission often follows. On about the fourth day, the period of intoxication begins with a slow pulse relative to a high fever and moderate jaundice. In severe cases, there are high levels of protein in the urine, and manifestations of bleeding appear; the vomit may be black with altered blood; and there is an abnormally low number of lymphocytes in the blood. When the disease progresses to the severe stage (black vomit and jaundice), the mortality rate is high. However, the infection may be mild and go unrecognized. Diagnosis is made by isolation of the virus from the serum obtained from an individual as early as possible in the disease, or by the rise in serum antibody. See also Antibody; Complement-fixation test; Neutralization reaction (immunology).

There are two major epidemiological cycles of yellow fever: classical or urban epidemic yellow fever, and sylvan or jungle yellow fever. Urban yellow fever involves person-to-person transmission by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the Western Hemisphere and West Africa. This mosquito breeds in the accumulations of water that accompany human settlement. Jungle yellow fever is primarily a disease of monkeys. In South America and Africa, it is transmitted from monkey to monkey by arboreal mosquitoes (Haemagogus and Aedes species) that inhabit the moist forest canopy. The infection in animals ranges from severe to inapparent. Persons who come in contact with these mosquitoes in the forest can become infected. Jungle yellow fever may also occur when an infected monkey visits a human habitation and is bitten by A. aegypti, which then transmits the virus to a human.

Vigorous mosquito abatement programs have virtually eliminated urban yellow fever. However, with the speed of modern air travel, the threat of a yellow fever outbreak exists where A. aegypti is present. An excellent attenuated live-virus vaccine is available. See also Vaccination.

 
Encyclopedia of Public Health: Yellow Fever

Yellow fever, a member of the genus Flavivirus, is an arboviral infection found throughout Africa and South America. It is transmitted primarily by the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito and also by Haemogogus mosquitoes in South America.

Though yellow fever caused epidemics in the United States and Europe in earlier centuries, today it exists only in Africa and Central and South America.

There are two main cycles of transmission of yellow fever: the sylvatic, or jungle, cycle; and the urban cycle. In the sylvatic cycle, the infection is maintained between monkeys and mosquitoes. A human entering the jungle environment (e.g., loggers, hunters) is at risk if bitten by an infected mosquito. Urban yellow fever occurs when the virus is introduced into urban centers, for example by migrant laborers arriving from rural regions. The domestic mosquito, A. aegypti, then carries the infection from person to person. In contrast to jungle yellow fever, where only small numbers of individuals are at risk, urban yellow fever epidemics may be quite extensive.

An intermediate cycle has also been described in Africa in areas where there is increased contact between humans, monkeys, and mosquitoes, such as at the edges of forested areas; this is a likely source of larger urban outbreaks.

Following the bite of an infective mosquito, the incubation period is three to six days. Although some cases may be asymptomatic or very mild, most cases are characterized by sudden onset of fever, chills, myalgias, backache, headache, nausea, and vomiting. Relative bradycardia (Faget's sign) is common, as are leukopenia and proteinuria. This early stage lasts three to five days, at which point the majority of patients will recover. Approximately 15 percent will relapse within twenty-four hours and develop a stage of "intoxication" characterized by a reocurrence and worsening of the above symptoms. Jaundice appears (hence the name "yellow fever"), and patients develop a bleeding tendency marked by blood in the vomit and stool, bruising, and bleeding from mucous membranes. Kidney failure is common. The mortality rate for this stage is over 50 percent. Treatment is supportive as there is no specific antiviral agent available.

As the clinical presentation of yellow fever is similar to that of other viral hemorrhagic fevers, the diagnosis should be confirmed in a laboratory. Diagnosis can be made by culture of the virus or by finding viral antigen in blood or liver tissue. It is also possible to identify virus-specific antibodies in blood.

A live, attenuated vaccine against yellow fever is over 95 percent effective and confers protection for ten years. As it is a live vaccine, it is contraindicated in infants under the age of six months, in pregnant women, and in immunocompromised individuals. It should be used with caution in anyone with a history of egg allergy.

The best method for control of yellow fever is mass vaccination of susceptible populations. Although the World Health Organization advocates including the yellow fever vaccine in the Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI) for children, most countries use the vaccine only in outbreak situations, a strategy that has not proven to be very effective in controlling the disease.

(SEE ALSO: Communicable Disease Control; Epidemics; Vector-Borne Diseases)

Bibliography

Desowitz, R. (1997). Who Gave Pinta to the Santa Maria? Torrid Diseases in a Temperate World. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Halstead, S. (1998). "Emergence Mechanisms in Yellow Fever and Dengue." Emerging Infections 2, eds. W. M. Scheld, W. A. Craig, and J. M. Hughes. Washington, DC: ASM Press.

Robertson, S. E.; Hull, B. P.; Tomori, O.; et al. (1998). "Yellow Fever: A Decade of Re-emergence." Journal of the American Medical Association 276:1157–1162.

Tomori, O. (1999). "Impact of Yellow Fever on the Developing World." Advances in Virus Research 53:5–34.

World Health Organization (1998). "Yellow Fever." Bulletin of the World Health Organization 76 (Supp. 2):158–159.

— MARTHA FULFORD; JAY KEYSTONE


 
US Military Dictionary: yellow fever

A tropical viral disease affecting the liver and kidneys, causing fever and jaundice and often fatal. It is transmitted by mosquitoes.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: yellow fever

Acute infectious tropical disease, sometimes occurring in temperate zones. Abrupt onset of headache, backache, fever, nausea, and vomiting is followed by either recovery with immunity or by higher fever, slow pulse, and vomiting of blood. Patients may die in a week. Jaundice is common (hence the name). One of the world's great plagues for 300 years, it is caused by a virus transmitted by several species of mosquitoes. Carlos Finlay suggested and Walter Reed proved this means of spread, leading to near elimination of the disease through mosquito control (see William Gorgas). Treatment consists of supportive care, particularly fever reduction. Control of mosquitoes near cities and live-virus vaccines — developed by Max Theiler (1899 – 1972), who won a 1951 Nobel Prize for his work — have made yellow fever completely preventable.

For more information on yellow fever, visit Britannica.com.

 
US History Encyclopedia: Yellow Fever

The first reference to yellow fever in America is found in that indispensable sourcebook The History of New England (1647) by John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts. The effort of the colonial court to exclude from Massachusetts the crew and the cargo of the ship that had brought the fever ("Barbados distemper") from the West Indies to America was the colonies' initial enforcement of quarantine. Later, in 1694, British ships that had sailed from Boston in an unsuccessful effort to capture Martinique brought back an epidemic of yellow fever, and subsequently, despite its endemic focus on the African coast, yellow fever emerged as a peculiarly American disease ("the American plague"). It spread through America as the African slave trade increased. With the single exception of smallpox, the most dreaded verdict on the lips of a colonial physician was "yellow fever."

The worst American epidemic of yellow fever occurred in 1793 and doomed the supremacy of Philadelphia among U.S. cities. Approximately 10 percent of the city's population died from the disease. Forty years later, the combined effects of yellow fever and cholera killed about 20 percent of the population of New Orleans. The last epidemic of yellow fever in the United States occurred in New Orleans in 1905.

Recurring epidemics of yellow fever and cholera led to the formation of municipal health boards in most major U.S. cities by mid-nineteenth century. But for much of that century, these agencies had few powers. Their lack of authority was, in part, due to distrust of the medical profession—a distrust fed by the inability of physicians to satisfactorily explain epidemic diseases. One camp of physicians argued that yellow fever was transmitted by touch and called for strict quarantines. Other physicians supported the "miasm" theory and argued that yellow fever was carried through the air by poisonous gases (miasm) emitted by rotting vegetation or dead animals. They called for swamp drainage and thorough cleaning of streets and abandoned buildings.

In 1900 the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Commission, with Walter Reed, James Carroll, Jesse W. Lazear, and Aristides Agramonte, was sent to track the pestilence in Cuba. The group, working with the aid of Carlos J. Finlay, demonstrated Finlay's theory that the infection is not a contagion but is transmitted by the bite of the female Aëdes aegypti mosquito. William Crawford Gorgas, chief sanitary officer of the Panama Canal Commission from 1904 until 1913, eliminated the mosquito in the region of the canal and made possible the building of the Panama Canal. Vaccines against the disease were developed in the early 1940s and today are required of anyone traveling to a hazardous area.

Bibliography

Carrigan, Jo Ann. The Saffron Scourge: A History of Yellow Fever in Louisiana, 1796–1905. Lafayette: University of Southwestern Louisiana, Center for Louisiana Studies, 1994.

Ellis, John H. Yellow Fever and Public Health in the New South. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992.

Foster, Kenneth R., Mary F. Jenkins, and Anna Coxe Toogood. "The Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1792." Scientific American 279, no. 2 (August 1998): 88.

Humphreys, Margaret. Yellow Fever and the South. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1992.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: yellow fever,
acute infectious disease endemic in tropical Africa and many areas of South America. Epidemics have extended into subtropical and temperate regions during warm seasons. In 1878 a severe outbreak in the Mississippi Valley killed about 20,000; the last epidemic in the United States occurred in New Orleans in 1905. Yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in stagnant water near human habitations. A form of the disease called sylvan yellow fever is transmitted in tropical jungles by other species of mosquitoes that live in trees.

At the end of the 19th cent., yellow fever was highly prevalent in the Caribbean, and a way of controlling it had to be found before construction of the Panama Canal could be undertaken. In 1900 an American commission headed by Walter Reed and including James Carroll, Jesse Lazear, and Aristides Agramonte gathered in the U.S. Army's Camp Columbia in Cuba. Through their experiments they proved the theory of C. J. Finlay that yellow fever was a mosquito-borne infection. Within the next few years, W. C. Gorgas, an army physician and sanitation expert, succeeded in controlling the disease in the Panama Canal Zone and other areas in that part of the world by mosquito-eradication measures. The later development of an immunizing vaccine and strict quarantine measures against ships, planes, and passengers coming from known or suspected yellow-fever areas further aided control of the disease.

Yellow fever begins suddenly after an incubation period of three to five days. In mild cases only fever and headache may be present. The severe form of the disease commences with fever, chills, bleeding into the skin, rapid heartbeat, headache, back pains, and extreme prostration. Nausea, vomiting, and constipation are common. Jaundice usually appears on the second or third day. After the third day the symptoms recede, only to return with increased severity in the final stage, during which there is a marked tendency to hemorrhage internally; the characteristic “coffee ground” vomitus contains blood. The patient then lapses into delirium and coma, often followed by death. During epidemics the fatality rate was often as high as 85%. Although the disease still occurs, it is usually confined to sporadic outbreaks.

Bibliography

See study by M. C. Crosby (2006).

 
Wikipedia: yellow fever
yellow fever
Classification & external resources
ICD-10 A95.
ICD-9 060
eMedicine med/2432  emerg/645
Yellow fever virus
TEM micrograph: Multiple yellow fever virions (234,000x magnification).
TEM micrograph: Multiple yellow fever virions (234,000x magnification).
Virus classification
Group: Group IV ((+)ssRNA)
Family: Flaviviridae
Genus: Flavivirus
Species: Yellow Fever virus

Yellow fever (also called yellow jack, black vomit or vomito negro, or sometimes American Plague) is an acute viral disease.[1] It is an important cause of hemorrhagic illness in many African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine. The yellow refers to the jaundice symptoms that affect some patients.[2]

Yellow fever has been a source of several devastating epidemics. French soldiers were attacked by yellow fever during the 1802 Haitian Revolution; more than half of the army perished due to the disease.[3] Outbreaks followed by thousands of deaths occurred periodically in other Western Hemisphere locations until research, which included human volunteers (some of whom died), led to an understanding of the method of transmission to humans (primarily by mosquitos) and development of a vaccine and other preventative efforts in the early 20th century.

Despite the costly and sacrificial breakthrough research by Cuban physician Carlos Finlay, American physician Walter Reed, and many others over 100 years ago, unvaccinated populations in many developing nations in Africa and Central and South America continue to be at risk.[4] As of 2001, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that yellow fever causes 200,000 illnesses and 30,000 deaths every year in unvaccinated populations.[5]

Pathogenesis

The female Aedes aegypti mosquito on a human host, about to obtain a blood meal
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The female Aedes aegypti mosquito on a human host, about to obtain a blood meal

Yellow fever is caused by an arbovirus of the family Flaviviridae, a positive single-stranded RNA virus. Human infection begins after deposition of viral particles through the skin in infected arthropod saliva. The mosquitos involved are Aedes simpsaloni, A. africanus, and A. aegypti in Africa, the Haemagogus genus in South America,[5] and the Sasbethes genera in France.

Yellow fever is frequently severe but more moderate cases may occur as the result of previous infection by another flavivirus. After infection the virus first replicates locally, followed by transportation to the rest of the body via the lymphatic system.[6] Following systemic lymphatic infection the virus proceeds to establish itself throughout organ systems, including the heart, kidneys, adrenal glands, and the parenchyma of the liver; high viral loads are also present in the blood.[1] Necrotic masses (Councilman bodies) appear in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes.[6],[7]

There is a difference between disease outbreaks in rural or forest areas and in towns. Disease outbreaks in towns and non-native people are usually more serious.[citation needed]

Symptoms

The virus remains silent in the body during an incubation period of three to six days. There are then two disease phases. While some infections have no symptoms the first, acute phase is normally characterized by fever, muscle pain (with prominent backache), headache, shivers, loss of appetite, and nausea or vomiting. The high fever is often paradoxically associated with a slow pulse (known as Faget's sign). After three or four days most patients improve and their symptoms disappear.

Fifteen percent of patients, however, enter a toxic phase within 24 hours. Fever reappears and several body systems are affected. The patient rapidly develops jaundice and complains of abdominal pain with vomiting. Bleeding can occur from the mouth, nose, eyes, and stomach. Once this happens blood appears in the vomit and feces. Kidney function deteriorates; this can range from abnormal protein levels in the urine (proteinuria) to complete kidney failure with no urine production (anuria). Half of the patients in the "toxic phase" die within fourteen days. The remainder recover without significant organ damage.

Yellow fever is difficult to recognize, especially during the early stages. It can easily be confused with malaria, typhoid, rickettsial diseases, haemorrhagic viral fevers (e.g. Lassa), arboviral infections (e.g. dengue), leptospirosis, viral hepatitis and poisoning (e.g. carbon tetrachloride). A laboratory analysis is required to confirm a suspect case. Blood tests (serology assays) can detect yellow fever antibodies that are produced in response to the infection. Several other techniques are used to identify the virus itself in blood specimens or liver tissue collected after death. These tests require highly trained laboratory staff using specialized equipment and materials.

Prevention

In 1937 Max Theiler working at the Rockefeller Foundation developed a vaccine for yellow fever that gives a ten-year or more immunity from the disease and effectively protects people traveling to affected areas, while at the same time being a means to control the disease. According to the travel clinic at the University of Utah Hospital the vaccine presents a significantly increased risk of severe allergic reaction in adults aged 60 and older, with the risk increasing again after age 65, and again after age 70. The reaction is capable of producing multiple organ failure, and should be evaluated carefully by a qualified health professional before being administered to the elderly.

Woodcutters working in tropical areas should be particularly targeted for vaccination. Insecticides, protective clothing, and screening of houses are helpful but not always sufficient for mosquito control; people should always use an insecticide spray while in certain areas. In affected areas mosquito control methods have proven effective in decreasing the number of cases.[8]

Recent studies have noted the increase in the number of areas affected by mosquito-borne viral infections and have called for further research and funding for vaccines.[9],[10]

Treatment

There is no true cure for yellow fever, therefore vaccination is important. Treatment is symptomatic and supportive only. Fluid replacement, fighting hypotension and transfusion of blood derivates is generally needed only in severe cases. In cases that result in acute renal failure, dialysis may be necessary. A fever victim needs to get lots of rest, fresh air, and drink plenty of fluids.

Current Research

In the hamster model of yellow fever, early administration of the antiviral ribavirin is an effective early treatment of many pathological features of the disease.[11] Ribavirin treatment during the first five days after virus infection improved survival rates, reduced tissue damage in target organs (liver and spleen), prevented hepatocellular steatosis, and normalized alanine aminotransferase (a liver damage marker) levels. The results of this study suggest that ribavirin may be effective in the early treatment of yellow fever, and that its mechanism of action in reducing liver pathology in yellow fever virus infection may be similar to that observed with ribavirin in the treatment of hepatitis C, a virus related to yellow fever.[11] Because ribavirin had failed to improve survival in a virulent primate (rhesus) model of yellow fever infection, it had been previously discounted as a possible therapy.[12]


In 2007 the World Community Grid launched a project where by computer modeling of the Yellow Fever Virus (and related viruses) thousands of small molecules are screened for their potential anti-viral properties in fighting Yellow Fever. This is the first project to utilize computer simulations in seeking out medicines to directly attack the virus once a person is infected. This is a distributed process project similar to SETI@Home where the general public downloads the World Community Grid agent and the program (along with thousands of other users) screens thousands of molecules while their computer would be otherwise idle. If the user needs to use the computer the program sleeps. There are several different projects running, including a similar one screening for anti-AIDS drugs. The project covering Yellow Fever is called "Discovering Dengue Drugs – Together." The software and information about the project can be found at:

Prognosis

Historical reports have claimed a mortality rate of between 1 in 17 (5.8%) and 1 in 3 (33%).[13] The WHO factsheet on yellow fever, updated in 2001, states that 15% of patients enter a "toxic phase" and that half of that number die within ten to fourteen days, with the other half recovering.[14]

Epidemiology

Endemic range of yellow fever in Africa, 2005.
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Endemic range of yellow fever in Africa, 2005.
Endemic range of yellow fever in South America, 2005.
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Endemic range of yellow fever in South America, 2005.

Yellow fever occurs only in Africa, South and Central America, and the Caribbean.[15] Most outbreaks in South America are to people who work within the tropical rain forests and have direct contact with the organisms within the rainforest.

The disease can remain locally unknown in humans for long periods of time and then suddenly break out in an epidemic fashion. In Central America and Trinidad, such epidemics have been due to a form of the disease (jungle yellow fever) that is kept alive in Red Howler monkey populations and transmitted by Haemagogus mosquito species which live only in the canopy of rain forests. The virus is passed to humans when the tall rainforest trees are cut down. Infected woodcutters can then pass on the disease to others via species of Aedes mosquitoes that typically live at low altitudes, thus triggering an epidemic.[16]

History

Photograph taken during the 1965 Aedes aegypti eradication program in Miami, Florida
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Photograph taken during the 1965 Aedes aegypti eradication program in Miami, Florida

Yellow fever has had an important role in the history of Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean.

Europe 541-549

Fragile after the fall of Rome, Europe was further weakened by "Yellow Plague" (Yellow Fever). The Byzantine Empire suffered as well.[17]

Cuba: 1762-1763

British and American colonial troops died by the thousands in Havana between 1762-1763. Epidemics struck coastal and island communities throughout the area during the next 140 years.

Philadelphia: 1793

In 1793, the largest yellow fever epidemic in American history killed as many as 5,000 people in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—roughly 10% of the population.[18] At the time, the port city was the largest in the United States, as well as the seat of U.S. government (prior to establishment of the District of Columbia). Philadelphia had recently seen the arrival of political refugees from the Caribbean. The summer that year was especially hot and dry, leaving many stagnant water areas as ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The yellow fever outbreak began in July and continued through November, when cold weather finally eliminated the breeding ground for mosquitoes, although the connection had not yet then been established.

Thousands of Philadelphians, including prominent government officials like George Washington and Alexander Hamilton fled the national capital. Benjamin Rush, the city's leading physician and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, advocated the bloodletting of patients to combat the disease, but the treatment was controversial. Stephen Girard also helped supervise a hospital established at Bush Hill, a mansion just outside Philadelphia. Though many high-ranking people of Philadelphia fled, a few officials stayed. Mayor Matthew Clarkson as well as the mayor's committee tried to hold the city together as the death toll increased.[19]

Matthew Carey published a fast-selling chronicle of the yellow fever crisis, A short account of the Malignant Fever, Lately Prevalent in Philadelphia that went through four editions. Although other ethnic groups were included, Carey's account failed to include the involvement of the city's African Americans in the community's response and relief efforts, despite the fact that African American leaders Richard Allen and Absalom Jones had rallied their church community to assist victims. Allen and Jones subsequently wrote a pamphlet, Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People, During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, which detailed the contributions of the African Americans during the epidemic.[20]

Haiti: 1802

In 1802, an army of forty thousand sent by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte of France to Haiti to suppress the Haitian Revolution was dwindled out by an epidemic of Yellow Fever (including the expedition's commander and Bonaparte's brother-in-law, Charles Leclerc). Some historians believe Haiti was to be a staging point for an invasion of the United States through Louisiana (then still under French control).[citation needed]

Norfolk, Virginia: 1855

A ship carrying persons infected with the virus arrived in Hampton Roads in southeastern Virginia in June of 1855 .[13] The disease spread quickly through the community, eventually killing over 3,000 people, mostly residents of Norfolk and Portsmouth. The Howard Association, a benevolent organization, was formed to help coordinate assistance in the form of funds, supplies, and medical professionals and volunteers which poured in from many other areas, particularly the Atlantic and Gulf Coast areas of the United States. See also "The Mermaids and Yellow Jack. A NorFolktale." children's historical fiction written by Norfolk Author Lisa Suhay retelling of the event and founding of the Bon Secours DePaul Hospital system in the United States in response to the epidemic. (http://iparentingmediaawards.com/winners/13/20794-2-751.php)

Carlos Finlay and Walter Reed

An entomologist demonstrates the attraction of female yellow fever mosquitoes to his hand in an olfactometer.
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An entomologist demonstrates the attraction of female yellow fever mosquitoes to his hand in an olfactometer.

Carlos Finlay, a Cuban doctor and scientist, first proposed proofs in 1881 that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes rather than direct human contact.[21] Dr.Walter Reed, M.D., (1851-1902) was an American Army surgeon who led a team that confirmed Finlay's theory. This risky but fruitful research work was done with human volunteers, including some of the medical personnel such as Clara Maass and Walter Reed Medal winner surgeon Jesse William Lazear who allowed themselves to be deliberately infected and died of the virus.[22] The acceptance of Finlay's work was one of the most important and far-reaching effects of the Walter Reed Commission of 1900.[23] Applying methods first suggested by Finlay, the elimination of Yellow Fever from Cuba was completed, as well as the completion of the Panama Canal. Lamentably, almost 20 years had passed before Reed's efforts were recognized while most of the scientific community ignored Finlay's methods of mosquito control.

Finlay and Reed's work was put to the test for the first time in the United States when a yellow fever epidemic struck New Orleans in 1905; according to the PBS American Experience documentary The Great Fever, houses were fumigated, cisterns for drinking water were inspected, and pools of standing water were treated with kerosene. The result was that the death toll from the epidemic was much lower than that from previous yellow fever epidemics, and that there has not been a major outbreak of the disease in the United States since. Although no cure has yet been discovered, an effective vaccine has been developed, which can prevent and help people recover from the disease.

Popular culture references

  • Jezebel (1938), starring Bette Davis (Academy Award-Best Actress) and Henry Fonda, is set in antebellum New Orleans during a Yellow Fever epidemic.
  • Fever 1793 written by Laurie Halse Anderson takes place in Philadelphia during the Yellow Fever Epidemic.
  • Yellow Fever is the name of a song by a Belgian Industrial Band, Vomito Negro. Band's name itself refers to the last stage of Yellow Fever.
  • Yellow Fever is the name of a Leicester Punk Band.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Schmaljohn AL, McClain D. (1996). Alphaviruses (Togaviridae) and Flaviviruses (Flaviviridae). In: Baron's Medical Microbiology (Baron S et al, eds.), 4th ed., Univ of Texas Medical Branch. ISBN 0-9631172-1-1. 
  2. ^ Anker M, Schaaf D, et al (2000-01-07). WHO Report on Global Surveillance of Epidemic-prone Infectious Diseases (PDF) 11. WHO. Retrieved on 2007-06-11.
  3. ^ Bollet, AJ (2004). Plagues and Poxes: The Impact of Human History on Epidemic Disease. Demos Medical Publishing, pp. 48–9. ISBN 188879979X. 
  4. ^ Tomori O (2002). "Yellow fever in Africa: public health impact and prospects for control in the 21st century". Biomedica 22 (2): 178-210. PMID 12152484. 
  5. ^ a b Yellow fever fact sheet. WHO—Yellow fever. Retrieved on 2006-04-18.
  6. ^ a b Ryan KJ; Ray CG (editors) (2004). Sherris Medical Microbiology, 4th ed., McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-8385-8529-9. 
  7. ^ Quaresma JA, Barros VL, Pagliari C, Fernandes ER, Guedes F, Takakura CF, Andrade HF Jr, Vasconcelos PF, Duarte MI (2006). "Revisiting the liver in human yellow fever: virus-induced apoptosis in hepatocytes associated with TGF-beta, TNF-alpha and NK cells activity". Virology 345 (1): 22-30. PMID 16278000. 
  8. ^ Joint Statement on Mosquito Control in the United States from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (PDF). Environmental Protection Agency (2000-05-03). Retrieved on June 25, 2006.
  9. ^ Pugachev KV, Guirakhoo F, Monath TP (2005). "New developments in flavivirus vaccines with special attention to yellow fever". Curr Opin Infect Dis 18 (5): 387-94. PMID 16148524. 
  10. ^ Petersen LR, Marfin AA (2005). "Shifting epidemiology of Flaviviridae". J Travel Med 12 Suppl 1: S3-11. PubMed. 
  11. ^ a b Sbrana E, Xiao SY, Guzman H, Ye M, Travassos da Rosa AP, Tesh RB (2004). "Efficacy of post-exposure treatment of yellow fever with ribavirin in a hamster model of the disease". Am J Trop Med Hyg 71 (3): 306-12. PubMed. 
  12. ^ Huggins JW (1989). "Prospects for treatment of viral hemorrhagic fevers with ribavirin, a broad-spectrum antiviral drug". Rev Infect Dis 11 Suppl 4: S750-61. PubMed. 
  13. ^ a b Mauer HB. Mosquito control ends fatal plague of Yellow Fever. etext.lib.virginia.edu. Retrieved on 2007-06-11, 2006. (undated newspaper clipping)
  14. ^ WHO Yellow Fever Fact Sheet. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
  15. ^ Yellow fever: a current threat. WHO. Retrieved on June 25, 2006.
  16. ^ Theiler, Max and Downs, W. G. (1973). The Arthropod-Borne Viruses of Vertebrates: An Account of The Rockefeller Foundation Virus Program 1951-1970. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-01508-9. 
  17. ^ The Yellow Plague. Oxford Journals. Retrieved on 2006-11-08.
  18. ^ Yellow Fever Attacks Philadelphia, 1793. EyeWitness to History. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
  19. ^ The Death of "Yellow Jack" (Angelo, M). JEFFline Forum. Retrieved on 2006-04-18.
  20. ^ Laurie Halse Anderson (2002). Fever 1793. Aladdin. ISBN 0-689-84891-9. 
  21. ^ Chaves-Carballo E (2005). "Carlos Finlay and yellow fever: triumph over adversity". Mil Med 170 (10): 881-5. PubMed. 
  22. ^ General info on Major Walter Reed. Major Walter Reed, Medical Corps, U.S. Army. Retrieved on 2006-05-02.
  23. ^ Phillip S. Hench Walter Reed Yellow Fever Collection. UVA Health Sciences: Historical Collections. Retrieved on 2006-05-06.

Further reading

  • Downs, Wilbur H., et al.. "Virus diseases in the West Indies". Caribbean Medical Journal 1965 (XXVI(1-4)): –. 
  • Theiler, Max and Downs, W. G. The Anthropod-Borne Viruses of Vertebrates: An Account of the Rockefeller Foundation Virus Program, 1951-1970. Yale University Press, 1973.

External links

Historical yellow fever information

Vaccine development

Viral diseases (A80-B34, 042-079)
Viral infections of the CNS Poliomyelitis (Post-polio syndrome) - Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis - Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy - Rabies - Encephalitis lethargica - Lymphocytic choriomeningitis - Tick-borne meningoencephalitis - Tropical spastic paraparesis
Arthropod-borne viral fevers and
viral haemorrhagic fevers		 Dengue fever - Chikungunya - Rift Valley fever - Yellow fever - Argentine hemorrhagic fever - Bolivian hemorrhagic fever - Lassa fever - Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever - Omsk hemorrhagic fever - Kyasanur forest disease - Marburg hemorrhagic fever - Ebola
Viral infections characterized by
skin and mucous membrane lesions		 Herpes simplex - Chickenpox - Herpes zoster - Smallpox - Monkeypox - Measles - Rubella - Plantar wart - Cowpox - Vaccinia - Molluscum contagiosum - Roseola - Fifth disease - Hand, foot and mouth disease - Foot-and-mouth disease
Viral hepatitis Hepatitis A - Hepatitis B - Hepatitis C - Hepatitis E
Viral infections of the respiratory system Avian influenza - Acute viral nasopharyngitis - Infectious mononucleosis - Influenza - Severe acute respiratory syndrome - Viral pneumonia
Other viral diseases Cytomegalovirus - Mumps - Bornholm disease
Sexually transmitted HIV (AIDS, AIDS dementia complex) - Genital warts - Adult T-cell leukemia

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