Infectious Diseases More Infectious Diseases Yellow Fever Guide Yellow Fever Guide Overview Symptoms Causes Diagnosis Treatment Prevention How Yellow Fever Is Diagnosed It's Not Always an Easy Process By Adrienne Dellwo Adrienne Dellwo LinkedIn Adrienne Dellwo is an experienced journalist who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and has written extensively on the topic. Learn about our editorial process Updated on July 20, 2021 Medically reviewed by Andy Miller, MD Medically reviewed by Andy Miller, MD on August 07, 2019 Andy Miller, MD, is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious disease. He is an associate professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. Learn about our Medical Review Board Print Table of Contents View All Table of Contents Self-Checks Risk Assessment Labs and Tests Presumptive Diagnosis Differential Diagnoses Frequently Asked Questions Next in Yellow Fever Guide How Yellow Fever Is Treated Diagnosing yellow fever isn't easy. If your doctor suspects you have this disease, you should expect an array of lab tests. Early in the illness, standard tests may not give you a definitive answer as to whether you have yellow fever or something similar to it. It gets easier to diagnose in the later stages, though, at the point when it can become life-threatening. © Verywell, 2018 Self-Checks Currently, we don't have an at-home test for yellow fever or the virus that causes yellow fever. That means, in order to be tested, you'll need to see your doctor. Knowing the basic symptoms of yellow fever and whether you're at a heightened risk of complications is helpful if you have been to one of the 47 countries in Africa, South America, or Central America where yellow fever is prevalent. If you develop a flu-like illness a few days after being bit by a mosquito in any of those regions, don't delay getting medical treatment. Doctor's Questions You may be asked about travel to certain regions when going to your doctor's appointment. That's because the medical community goes on high alert when there's an outbreak of something serious like yellow fever. It's possible to catch this disease even when there's not an outbreak, though. If there hasn't been a reported outbreak, it's possible that your doctor might not think to ask about travel when you go in with common symptoms such as a fever, nausea, and body aches. If you have been to an at-risk country, be sure to bring it up right away. Labs and Tests Once doctors suspect yellow fever, they generally run a test on the serum in your blood to look for markers that are specific to the virus that causes the illness. Early on in the disease progression, the test may not be able to detect anything. That can be frustrating when you want to know why you're sick. Keep in mind that most cases of yellow fever do not ever progress past that point, meaning you'll be sick for a few days, then recover and be just fine. Once a case has progressed to the later, toxic phase, the test is better able to detect it. Results, though, may take a few days to two weeks to come back. Presumptive Diagnosis Because 50 percent of people in the toxic stage could die within that time, doctors typically begin treatment right away based on what's called a presumptive diagnosis. That means they'll look at your symptoms along with where you've traveled to and when. Treatment involves managing the symptoms (i.e., hydration and lowering your fever) since no antiviral treatments are known to work on the virus. Due to the risk of outbreaks, the CDC tracks cases of yellow fever in the United States. If you're at risk for it and become sick, it's important for you to be tested—otherwise, you could spread the disease to uninfected mosquitoes, who could then transmit it to other people. You should not need any imaging tests for a diagnosis of yellow fever. Differential Diagnoses The symptoms that send you to the doctor with yellow fever are also common in a wide array of other illnesses. Your doctor may order additional blood tests for many other diseases with a similar presentation. These can include: Severe malaria Dengue fever (which is also caused by a member of the Flavivirus family) Leptospirosis Viral hepatitis Jaundice (yellowing of the skin, from which the disease takes its name) Other fevers that are hemorrhagic (involve the liver) Poisoning Your doctor may test you for any number of other things, as well, depending on your specific set of symptoms and other factors, such as lifestyle or recent travel. Frequently Asked Questions How is yellow fever diagnosed? Yellow fever is diagnosed with blood tests that detect disease-specific antibodies produced in the response to the virus. This includes a common test called an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that is able to detect different types of antibodies produced at different stages of the infection. How long does a yellow fever test take? The blood draw itself only takes a couple of minutes. The ELISA test results, however, can take anywhere from four to 14 days to receive. Can yellow fever be treated without a diagnosis? Yes. Due to the lag time in test results, yellow fever is treated presumptively if you develop acute symptoms and have recently been in (or are currently in) an endemic region. Given that 20% to 50% of people with severe yellow fever die, the benefits of presumptive treatment outweigh the risks. What other diseases are similar to yellow fever? Even if yellow fever is suspected, the doctor may want to investigate other possible causes to ensure the correct treatment. These may include: Acute liver failure Dengue fever Japanese encephalitis Leptospirosis Malaria Typhoid fever Typhus Viral hepatitis West Nile fever How Yellow Fever Is Treated Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yellow fever: diagnostic testing. Updated August 21, 2015. World Health Organization. Yellow Fever: Key Facts. Updated May 7, 2019. Klitting R, Fischer C, Drexler JF, et al. What does the future hold for yellow fever virus? (II). Genes (Basel). 2018 Sep;9(9):425. McGuinness I, Beckham JD, Tyler KL, Pastula DM. An overview of yellow fever virus disease. Neurohospitalist. 2017;7(4):157-8. doi:10.1177/1941874417708129 Simon LV, Hashmi MF, Torp KD. Yellow fever. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Updated February 11, 2021.