Yellow fever Yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains particularly in the back, and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In about 15% of people, within a day of improving the fever comes back, abdominal pain occurs, and liver damage begins causing yellow skin. If this occurs, the risk of bleeding and kidney problems is also increased. The disease is caused by the yellow fever virus and is spread by the bite of an infected female mosquito. It infects only humans, other primates,
Yellow fever blood, hence the Spanish name for yellow fever, "vómito negro" ("black vomit"). There may also be kidney failure, hiccups, and delirium. The toxic phase is fatal in about 20% to 50% of cases, making the overall fatality rate for the disease about 3.0 to 7.5%. However, the fatality rate of those with the toxic phase of the disease may exceed 50%. Surviving the infection provides lifelong immunity, and normally no permanent organ damage results. Yellow fever is caused by the yellow fever virus, a 40– to 50--wide enveloped RNA virus, the type species and namesake of the family "Flaviviridae". It