The treatment for yellow fever should be guided by a general practitioner and usually consists only of relieving the symptoms of the disease, such as fever, headache, nausea and vomiting.
Thus, it is recommended to stay at home, at rest, avoiding going to school or work and investing in the intake of 2 liters of water or coconut water per day to avoid dehydration caused by vomiting.
Jurubeba tea is a good natural strategy to complement the treatment at home because it acts on the liver, purifying it. See how to prepare this home remedy here.
Yellow fever remedies
As there is no specific remedy to treat yellow fever, the doctor may indicate that the treatment is done according to the symptoms that the individual has. Ribavirin is a medicine that acts on the liver and has good results, bringing the cure to the disease, but it must be used in the form of an injection and in Brazil it is only found in tablet form, so it is generally not indicated.
Medicines that the doctor can recommend for a person to recover faster include:
- Antipyretic remedies, such as Paracetamol, every 8 hours to reduce fever and headache; Analgesic remedies, such as Paracetamol or Dipyrone, to relieve muscle pain; Stomach protectors, such as Cimetidine and Omeprazole, to prevent gastritis, ulcers and decrease the risk of bleeding; Vomiting medicine, such as Metoclopramide to control vomiting.
Remedies that contain acetylsalicylic acid are not recommended because they can cause bleeding and cause death, just like in the case of dengue. Some remedies that are contraindicated in case of yellow fever are AAS, aspirin, Doril and Calmador. See others that also cannot be used against yellow fever.
In the most severe cases, treatment should be done in the hospital with serum and medication in the vein, as well as oxygen to prevent serious complications, such as bleeding or dehydration, which can endanger the patient's life.
Signs of improvement
The signs of improvement in yellow fever appear 2 to 3 days after the start of treatment and include decreased fever, relief of muscle pain and headache, as well as reduced number of vomiting.
Signs of worsening
The signs of worsening yellow fever are related to dehydration and, therefore, include increased number of vomiting, decreased amount of urine, excessive tiredness and apathy. In these cases, it is recommended to go to the emergency room to start the appropriate treatment.
Complications
Complications affect 5 to 10% of patients with yellow fever and, in this case, treatment must be done with admission to the ICU. Signs of complications can be decreased urine, apathy, prostration, vomiting with blood and kidney failure, for example. When the patient arrives in this state, he must be taken to the hospital so that he can be hospitalized because it may be necessary to undergo hemodialysis or be intubated, for example.
See how you can protect yourself from yellow fever at: Yellow fever vaccine.
