Yellow Fever Essay

The virus is transmitted when the humans who are already infected return to the urban areas and are bitten by the domestic vector mosquito which goes ahead to feed on other humans. The causative agent of the Yellow Fever infection is the Yellow Fever virus. The virus is borne in the A aegypti mosquito (Carneiro, p. A. aegypti mosquitoes are known to have a habit of feeding during the day with only females feeding on blood. In both Africa and South America, about a quarter of a million cases of yellow fever are reported annually with Africa account for about 85%. In Africa, small outbreaks of yellow fever were first published in Western African countries which were primarily responsible for the increased incidence of yellow fever in Africa.

However, the first epidemic reported in Kenya in 20 years ago and was a wakeup call for the Sub-Saharan African countries. Transmissions in the African continent are maintained by a high level of vector mosquito populations that are near to mostly unvaccinated humans. Despite some states having have incorporated yellow fever vaccine into childhood immunization programs, vaccine coverage is not optimal. Estimation of risk of yellow fever associated with travel is made difficult by the fluctuation of disease by year and season, vaccine coverage of the local population and incomplete surveillance data from the relevant authorities. Majorities of the people do not experience symptoms, but when these do occur, the most common are fever, muscle pain with a prominent headache, loss of appetite, and vomiting.

In most cases, symptoms disappear after three to four days. Quite a small percentage of patients, enter a second stage which is more toxic within 24 hours of recovering from previous symptoms. High fever returns and several body systems are affected, usually the liver and the kidneys. Clothes that are already treated with permethrin are commercially available. Mosquito repellents containing permethrin are not approved for application directly to the skin. Besides clothing and use of repellant, it is equally important to be aware of peak mosquito hours. The peak biting times for many mosquitoes from is dusk till dawn. However, A. Vaccination is the most potent known measure for yellow fever prevention. Ensuring adequate vaccine supply is available to reach all those at-risk is a constant challenge and the primary purpose of the Eliminate Yellow Fever Epidemics (EYE) Strategy partnership, steered by WHO and UNICEF.

The vaccines are currently manufactured by four World Health Organization prequalified suppliers. The annual yellow fever vaccine production has quadrupled from 20 million in 2001 to 80 million doses as of today. The output is estimated to increase even further in the years to come. In All cases had been exported from Angola to China, where an ongoing outbreak had already caused over 3900 cases and 380 deaths. Unlike the Zika virus and Ebola, the good news with yellow fever is that there is a vaccine. The bad news is that its production is complicated and therefore limited, and there would not be sufficient doses in case of an unexpected epidemic. The factors mentioned above show the concern of a possible introduction of the virus into Asia.