Yellow Fever

This disease is related to malaria in that it spreads from person to person through infected mosquitoes. Responsible for taking millions of lives and wiping out entire colonies and villages during the time of Napoleon’s reign, yellow fever still persists in areas of Africa and South America. While some infections are less severe than others, it is a life-threatening disease that can cause severe internal bleeding and liver failure, which is marked by the yellowing of the skin –  prompting this disease’s name. The most famous Yellow Fever epidemic occurred in 1793 in the Untied States in Philadelphia, PA, when over 4,000 people died in a span of only four moths. Today, the disease still exists, and there are an estimated 200,000 cases of yellow fever, causing 30,000 deaths worldwide each year.