Symptoms of Yellow fever

Health encyclopaedia - Alphabetical Topic List

| A |

| B |

| C |

| D |

| E |

| F |

| G |

| H |

| I |

| J |

| K |

| L |

| M |

| N |

| O |

| P |

| Q |

| R |

| S |

| T |

| U |

| V |

| W |

| X |

| Y |

A mild case of yellow fever may may pass in around three days. More often, yellow fever is a severe illness. Symptoms include a high fever, a slow pulse rate, severe headache, general aches and pains, bleeding from the nose and gums, nausea and vomiting.

In many cases, the liver is seriously damaged and stops working properly. Normally, the liver helps to remove a natural yellow colouring substance called bilirubin from the body. When it becomes damaged, the bilirubin collects in the body and causes a yellowing of the skin which is known as jaundice. The kidneys may also be affected and kidney failure may result.

Usually, the person's temperature drops to normal on about the third day of illness, but then rises again. Bleeding into the intestine often causes vomiting of blood and black stools (blood in the bowel motions).

There may be severe bleeding from the bowel and the womb â€“ these are grave signs and are often followed by agitation, delirium, coma and death.