Yellow fever

2022 - 8 - 24

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Punch"

Nigeria's rising Yellow fever epidemic (The Punch)

Lately, the yellow fever virus has become of serious global health concern more because the wakes of its historic outbreaks are trailed by devastating outcomes.

In some countries, a booster dose of the vaccine is a requirement for entry. This becomes worrisome due to the fact that there is no treatment for the virus, the good news is for most people, a single dose of yellow fever vaccine gives long-term protection. The demography of Nigeria is one of the most important and common reasons the fever could spike in the country. The disease is a potentially fatal disease, as half of its patients in the toxic phase die within seven to 10 days. Consequently, it issued an advisory for travellers to and out of Nigeria to consult their healthcare provider on precautionary measures required against the virus if need be. Over 160 million people, more than half of Nigeria’s current estimated population, are at risk of yellow fever in the country, reports by the World Health Organisation Africa Region have recently highlighted.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Republic World"

WHO warns more than 160 million people are at risk of yellow fever ... (Republic World)

As per the WHO reports, “Sylvatic exposure is the transmission of yellow fever from mosquitos that have bitten animals and non-human primates.” These types of ...

However, being vaccinated against yellow fever before visiting a region where the virus is known to occur can shield people from contracting the illness. According to a Mayo Clinic report, patients won't exhibit any symptoms or indicators for the first three to six days after contracting yellow fever which is considered to be the incubation phase. The Director-General further informed that they have distributed almost 66 million doses in 2020 and 2021 to prevent individuals from yellow fever outbreaks despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “We have reference laboratories in the country that have been strengthened, and are being supported and assessed to make sure they are meeting all the performance parameters in terms of sample collection and referral to our reference labs in Abuja.” The cyclical nature of sylvatic transmission and shortfalls in illness diagnosis rather than a lack of the virus transmission are to blame for this. By then they will experience fever, and have system failure, mainly in the kidney and liver.” Baptiste added that due to the disease, bleeding from the mouth, nose, as well as eyes may occur, and within 7 to 10 days, half of the patients will lose their lives.

Explore the last week