Is there really a yellow fever?

I am reading a book called Fever and all the characters are getting yellow fever and dieing from it. is it really a fever and does it really kill someone?

Yes, there really is a disease call ed Yellow Fever. The yellow refers to the jaundice symptoms that affect some patients. Yellow fever is caused by an arbovirus of the family Flaviviridae, a positive single-stranded RNA virus.
Yellow fever has been a source of several devastating epidemics. French soldiers were attacked by yellow fever during the 1802 Haitian Revolution; more than half of the army perished due to the disease.Outbreaks followed by thousands of deaths occurred periodically in other Western Hemisphere locations until research, which included human volunteers (some of whom died), led to an understanding of the method of transmission to humans (primarily by mosquitos) and development of a vaccine and other preventative efforts in the early 20th century. (it is not malaria--that is caused by another organism)

Yeah, there were some pretty bad pandemics in the late 1700s. Killed thousands on the East Coast.

I think I read that book too, by the way.

I believe it's called malaria.

Yes, it is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes. There were several large outbreaks in the US in the 1700 and 1800s - New Orleans, Philadelphia - where 10% of the population died and Norfolk Va. for example.

Outbreaks still occur periodically in tropical regions today.

I read that book too. Fever 1793, was based on the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nearly 1/4 of the population either died or left the city for good.

Yellow fever is a viral disease of short duration and varying severity that is transmitted primarily by mosquitoes. The infection is so named because of the yellow skin colour (jaundice) observed in people with serious illness.

Symptoms of infection can be mild but often increase in severity with the sudden onset of fever, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, headache and prostration. The disease may progress to visible haemorrhage, jaundice, kidney and liver failure. The death rate in unvaccinated people may be as high as 50 per cent.