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WHO/Olivier Asselin
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A mother in Togo is vaccinated
against yellow fever, the flavivirus
group, an emerging and re-emerging
viral infection.
Yellow fever mostly affects people
living in tropical regions in Africa and
Latin America. According to World
Health Organization, over 500 million
people in Africa are at risking of
getting yellow fever. Yellow Fever.
By Ahmed Elmi, MPH, CHES
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EMERGING AND RE-EMERGING VIRAL INFECTIONS
FACT SHEET ON YELLOW FEVER IN AFRICA
A mother in Togo is vaccinated against yellow fever, the
flavivirus group, an emerging and re-emerging viral infection.
Yellow fever mostly affects people living in tropical regions in
Africa and Latin America. According to World Health
Organization, over 500 million people in Africa are at risking
of getting yellow fever.
There is no treatment for yellow fever. Patients are given oral dehydration salts and antibiotics to treat
superimposed infections. Severe cases of yellow fever can be deadly. Approximately 15% of patients
experience high toxic levels causing bleeding in orifices and kidney failure leading to death.
Prevention from person to person is mainly through vaccination and control of domestic mosquitoes, such
as Aedes aegypti. Sixty years after the invention of the vaccine, only a fraction of at-risk people have
been vaccinated. The global health efforts should focus on extending vaccination to people in tropical
regions.
Ahmed Elmi, MPH, CHES
April 2008
MORE FACT SHEETS WILL BE POSTED SOON.
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