Africa, South America Suffering Resurgence of Yellow Fever

From 1987 to 1992, the ancient scourge of yellow fever, an often-fatal, mosquito-borne viral disease, reached the highest levels in Africa and South America in five decades, the World Health Organization reports in the latest Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Nearly 19,000 cases and 4,500 deaths from the disease were reported to health authorities, but WHO estimates that many more people are infected--up to 200,000 in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

A major reason for the reemergence, the agency says, is that most at-risk countries are too poor to fund programs that administer the yellow fever vaccine.