In 1984 the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) sponsored an international seminar on the treatment and laboratory diagnosis of yellow fever. The meeting, held April 2–6 in Brasilia, was attended by 37 participants representing Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, the United States, PAHO, and the World Health Organization. The objectives of the seminar were to review the current status of the disease, with emphasis on diagnosis and on the care and management of patients, and to formulate recommendations for improvements in diagnosis and management and for future research. A unique aspect of the seminar and one that distinguished it from previous, epidemiologically oriented meetings on yellow fever was the emphasis on clinical medicine and the participation of individuals representing academic medicine in relevant specialties such as hepatology, hematology, cardiology, and nephrology.