Spanish flag (medicine)

Flag of Spain with a yellow line between two red stripes

The Spanish flag is a skin phenomenon associated with a yellow fever infection that is used as a simple diagnostic tool. You run your fingernail over the skin of a sick person and you can observe how a clear yellow line surrounded by two red stripes emerges in the middle. Based on the Spanish national colors, this term first originated in South and Central America.

The “Spanish flag” is a good indicator, especially in cases in which the yellowing of the skin is not clearly visible. The phenomenon can be explained by the fact that on the one hand there is increased fragility of the capillary blood vessels in yellow fever (red line) and at the same time bile pigments from the breakdown of liver tissue color the skin yellow and this becomes more visible when the skin is pale by finger pressure.

source

• Stefan Winkle : Cultural history of epidemics . Komet, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-933366-54-2 , p. 965.

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !