yellow fever

noun

Definition of yellow fever

: an acute infectious disease that is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical South America, is marked by symptoms (such as fever, muscle pain, and headache) of sudden onset which typically resolve within a few days but are sometimes followed by more serious symptoms (such as jaundice, high fever, and hemorrhage), and is caused by a flavivirus (species Yellow fever virus of the genus Flavivirus) transmitted especially by the yellow-fever mosquito

Examples of yellow fever in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Last year 13 countries reported new outbreaks of yellow fever, rising from nine in 2020 and three in 2019, according to WHO figures. — Rodney Muhumuza, ajc, 28 Apr. 2022 Worldwide, over one million people die from mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile, dengue, Zika, yellow fever, malaria, and lymphatic filariasis every year. — Elizabeth Gamillo, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 May 2022 That includes the Covid-19 pandemic as well as influenza, yellow fever, lassa fever, MERS and HIV/AIDS. — Melody Schreiber, The New Republic, 30 Apr. 2022 By then, the United States had already ratified the International Sanitary Convention for Aerial Navigation of 1933, which focused on preventing the spread plague, cholera, yellow fever, typhus and smallpox via air traffic. — Jeffrey E. Harris, STAT, 24 Apr. 2022 Malaria, yellow fever, dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases were rampant. — David James, Anchorage Daily News, 23 Apr. 2022 Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, an invasive species that can carry an array of harmful diseases, including yellow fever, dengue fever and Zika. — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Apr. 2022 The family includes Zika, yellow fever, Chikungunya and dengue and are already a significant public health problem in many tropical regions. — Robert Hart, Forbes, 12 Apr. 2022 The Zika virus is first discovered in a monkey by scientists studying yellow fever in Uganda’s Zika forest. — Cnn Editorial Research, CNN, 27 May 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'yellow fever.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Statistics for yellow fever

Last Updated

12 Jun 2022

Cite this Entry

“Yellow fever.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yellow%20fever. Accessed 30 Jun. 2022.

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More Definitions for yellow fever

yellow fever

noun

Kids Definition of yellow fever

: a disease carried by mosquitoes in parts of Africa and South America

yellow fever

noun

Medical Definition of yellow fever

: an infectious disease of sudden onset that is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical South America and includes acute symptoms (as fever, muscle pain, headache, and nausea) which typically resolve within a few days but are sometimes followed by more serious symptoms (as jaundice, abdominal pain, high fever, hemorrhage, and kidney impairment) which may lead to death

Note: Yellow fever is caused by a single-stranded RNA virus of the genus Flavivirus (species Yellow fever virus) transmitted from monkey to human or human to human especially by the yellow-fever mosquito.

Few Americans realize that yellow fever was not always a disease of the faraway tropics. In 1878, an outbreak of yellow fever—the virus carried to the United States in mosquitoes from Africa—killed 20,000 people in the Mississippi Valley.— Mary Roach, The New York Times Book Review Although mass vaccination campaigns in Africa between the 1940s and 1960s led to the near disappearance of yellow fever, inadequately immunized populations and urbanization set the stage for the disease to reemerge. By the 1990s, there were an estimated 200 000 annual cases, with 30 000 deaths.— Clem Spalding, The Journal of the American Medical Association

— called also yellow jack