How Does the Yellow Fever Mosquito Cause Disease?

The yellow fever mosquito is called the Aedes mosquito and is mostly found in countries south of the equator. People who are travelling to those areas need to be extremely careful because this disease can be fatal. There are two kinds of yellow fever, both spread by mosquitoes. The jungle yellow fever is carried by monkeys and is spread to humans through mosquitoes that bite the infected monkeys and then bite humans. Urban yellow fever is spread by mosquitoes that have bitten humans infected with the disease.

Know the symptoms of Yellow Fever

Although the Yellow Fever symptoms can be mild, in most cases they are quite severe. The highest danger is misdiagnosis as many people think they simply have the flu because common symptoms include:

• High temperature
• Chills
• Headache
• Muscle aches and pains
• Vomiting, and
• Back pain

Although those infected with this disease might feel that they are recovering for a brief time, relapses are quite common. Infection from the mosquito carrying this disease could lead to severe shock, bleeding and failure of essential organs of the body, such as the liver and kidneys. The name of the disease actually comes from the fact that it affects the liver, which causes the whites of the eyes and the skin to turn yellow.

In order to determine if you have yellow fever, the doctor will have to do a blood test. The symptoms can appear from 3 days to several weeks after you are bitten. The most important reason you should be as careful as possible to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes is that there isn't really a cure for this illness. Generally the treatment for those infected is to drink lots of fluids and get plenty of rest.