Yellow Fever essays

Yellow Fever essays Yellow Fever, or Flavivirus Taxon, is a virus that kills 30,000 people yearly. It is carried by mosquitoes, which feed on humans. Currently, it is only found in South America and Africa. It is non-contagious and can only be caught once. Someone could tell if they have Yellow Fever if they have a sudden onset of a fever and a headache, followed by jaundice. After a few days the carrier will have black vomit and bleed from the mouth. In most cases death will occur within four to eight days after they contract the virus. There is no actual treatment of the virus, just things you can do to treat it temporally. The person must drink a lot of water to prevent dehydration. Do not give the infected aspirin because it may cause bleeding; instead use paracetamol. Lastly, the person must stay in bed and rest. Though most cases result in death, some survive. There is a vaccine available for Yellow Fever, which was created by Max Theiler in 1939. It is a live vaccine that lasts for about ten years. The way the vaccine works is the Yellow Fever protein coat is injected into the body, without the DNA in the protein coat. The Helper-T cell identifies the virus as harmful and calls an army of B-cells and Killer-T cells. The B-cells create antibodies, which attach to the antigen. The Killer-T cells then eat the antigen/antibody complex. With the vaccine the body builds immunity to the virus. If it were the actual virus the person could survive, but theyd probably die of heart, liver, or kidney failure. The liver damage causes extra yellow bile in skin pigment, causing the person to turn yellowish; hence the name Yellow Fever. The virus also causes hemorrhaging. People started catching Yellow Fever when building the Panama Canal. In 1881 Carlos Finlay concluded that Yellow Fever was contracted from mosquitoes. Walter Reed later confirmed this in 1901. This problem was solved by sa ...