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World Health Organization and Yellow Fever
According to the World Health Organization, yellow fever has been a known scourge to the Americas and to Africa for approximately 400 years. Over the past 20 years, there has been a rise in incidents, once again making this disease a political and humanitarian focus as mere outbreaks can graduate into epidemics in a very short time. Each year 206,000 people are infected and 52,000 are killed following exposure.
Yellow fever is a viral disease passed from mosquito to human. It derives its name from the jaundicing effect seen in some patients. Symptoms can be innocuous; anything from an elevated temperature to intense, acute hepatitis and hemorrhagic fever. Of the people who contract severe forms of the disease, 20-50% will die. Yellow fever is difficult to diagnose, especially in the early stages when symptoms mimic the flu. For approximately 15% of those infected, a toxic phase of the disease begins within twenty-four hours after the gestational state. Half of the people who enter the toxic phase of the disease die from major organ failure. Even today there is no cure for yellow fever, leaving primary efforts in the area of preventing exposure and treating symptoms as they emerge.
Reasons for the recent rise in yellow fever outbreaks can be attributed to population shifts as more people are attracted to jobs in urban centers. Concentrated population groups provide perfect settings for the spread of diseases, including yellow fever. Oddly enough, the species of mosquito that spreads yellow fever, Aedes aegypti, prefers crowded, city settings to the marshlands commonly associated with mosquitoes. Once an infected subject is bitten, the virus is easily transferred to a new host, causing statistics to climb exponentially. Those who commute back to rural areas introduce the virus to previously uninfected environments.
Vaccination is the single most important weapon in combating yellow fever. There has been an effective vaccine for Yellow Fever since 1937. The inoculation grants ten years of immunity. In 2007, the WHO launched the Yellow Fever Initiative with $58 million dollars in funding from GAVI (Global Alliance of Vaccines and Immunizations.) The aim of this scheme is to inoculate people from high risk areas, primarily western Africa, where there is a continuous threat of epidemic outbreaks. Twelve African countries are targeted for the campaign over the course of four years, but it is clear that there is not enough vaccine to get through 2011. Due to yellow fever surges in Brazil and Central Africa, most experts predict a shortage by 2010. With the current financial climate, funding to continue the initiative will be difficult to obtain. Dr. Fenella Avokey of the African regional office of the WHO states, "If we do not sustain this program, yellow fever outbreaks will continue to affect populations who can least afford it."
About the Author The online project Good Health Today congregates articles of specialists in health in order to give you the best advice in this important area of life. See more at www.goodhealthtoday.net. Also visit our partner at Brazilian Foreign Policy
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