yellow fever

noun

: 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 (Orthoflavivirus flavi) transmitted especially by the yellow-fever mosquito

Examples of yellow fever in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Both species — Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito, and Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito — are small and black with white stripes. —Alexiah Syrai Olsen, Sacbee.com, 27 May 2026

It's filled with photos and stories of medical professionals from throughout Pennsylvania Hospital's history who've gone to war zones and worked in the midst of epidemics, from yellow fever to influenza, HIV/AIDS to COVID-19. —Phaedra Trethan, USA Today, 25 May 2026

The Culiseta annulata mosquito stings, or bites, but is not known to be a primary vector for tropical diseases like malaria, yellow fever, and dengue. —Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 22 Apr. 2026

Public fear and anger over cholera, yellow fever, typhus, typhoid, smallpox, and influenza repeatedly landed on the powerless. —David Blumenthal, STAT, 24 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1738, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for yellow fever

• unbeliever
• achiever
• believer
• deceiver
• perceiver
• receiver
• reliever
• retriever
• transceiver
• cleaver
• leaver
• weaver

Kids Definition

yellow fever

noun

: an infectious disease of warm regions (as sub-Saharan Africa) that is marked by fever, headache, muscle aches, yellowness of the skin, and sometimes death and that is caused by a virus transmitted by a mosquito

Medical Definition

yellow fever

noun

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

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