yellow fever

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. an acute, often fatal, infectious febrile disease of warm climates, caused by an RNA virus transmitted by a mosquito, especially Aedes aegypti, and characterized by liver damage and jaundice.

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yellow fever British  

noun

1. Also called: yellow jack.   black vomit.  an acute infectious disease of tropical and subtropical climates, characterized by fever, haemorrhages, vomiting of blood, and jaundice: caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of a female mosquito of the species Aedes aegypti

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yellow fever Scientific  

/ yĕl′ō /

1. A life-threatening infectious disease caused by a virus of the genus Flavivirus and characterized by fever, jaundice, and internal bleeding. Yellow fever occurs mainly in tropical regions of Africa and Latin America and is transmitted by mosquitoes.

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Etymology

Origin of yellow fever

First recorded in 1730–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

yellow fever

The yellow fever virus, also indigenous to Africa, must have stowed away too.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

Not only do they drive residents nuts with itchy bites, but they can carry a number of potentially serious diseases, including dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

As it happened, Fordlandia was beset by smallpox and yellow fever, rubber-destroying fungi, and labor unrest that required military intervention.

From Barron's ● Jan. 18, 2026

"The yellow fever vaccine remains effective against modern strains and seeing the virus in such fine detail lets us better understand why the vaccine strain behaves the way it does," Professor Watterson said.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2025

As a result, hundreds of millions of people were now susceptible to getting yellow fever and other deadly diseases carried by Aedes aegypti.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy