A History Of The Yellow Fever Epidemic

While reading An American Plague, I noticed an interesting detail that Yellow Fever could actually be prevented. Murphy (2003) notes that doctors noted the symptoms of the sick patients from the disease Yellow Fever. Some of the symptoms were pain in the back and painful aching in the body. This detail led me to wonder if there was a way that you could prevent Yellow fever. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that wearing bug repellent will reduce the chances for getting bit by a mosquito and they also talk about having more clothing on your body will also help because then mosquito's can not bite you. The article also talks about vaccines because we know have a yellow fever vaccine and that will cure yellow fever.

In 1793 Philadelphia suffered from a deadly disease that spread all through the town; it was called yellow fever. The Philadelphia Doctors and the French doctors were attempting to treat yellow fever. The doctors had many ways to try to fix this, but they did not have the technology we do today. Yellow fever occurred 1793. The outbreak happened in Philadelphia. This sad event that killed many people was all because of infected mosquitoes. They came over with the ill refuges. About 2,000 to 5,000 people died. All in all, this was one of the one of the worst things to occur in history

In this chapter it talks about how Catherine LeMaigre was dying, and dying horribly and painfully. The two physicians sent for their esteemed colleague Dr. Benjamin Rush. They were trying to find out if they could stop the plague from spreading.

Secondly, the cities filth was noteworthy. The city of Memphis was overcome with a rotten smell, excrement of animals, and filth all over the streets. Sanitation conditions were horrible and this had caused previous diseases such as cholera in the years before the Civil War. Thirdly, the weather conditions of the summer of 1878 were ideal for the growth and dispersion of the mosquito that carried the virus. The temperatures during that year's summer were in the range of 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Finally, because Memphis was an important port city for steamboats, the virus traveled easily up north from New Orleans through the Mississippi River. Although, the city of Memphis had previous experiences with yellow fever (1828, 1855, and 186) and other diseases too, the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 was like nothing else previously seen in the history of Tennessee. It was in 1900 that it was discovered that the virus had come to Memphis from and infected ship that had ported in either the Caribbean or West Africa and had later entered the United States to New Orleans and then to Memphis.

People had little knowledge of germs and bacteria, and that there are trillions of these microscopic invaders everywhere you go. Therefore many people took little effort in keeping good hygiene and awareness of transmissible distances between people. The close contact of people made the spread of the virus effortless. People soon began

Yellow fever is a deadly disease caused by a viral infection that is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. Although it is found to be most common in males in their early 20's, yellow fever can affect any sex, race, or age. Since yellow fever is carried by mosquitoes, it is most often found in areas such as Central America, the northern half of South America, and Central Africa where mosquitoes are abundant. The reason why it is found so often in these

A great misfortune took place during the summer of 1793. It was one of the driest and hottest summers in years making way for many disease spreading pests like mosquitoes (Gum 1). Said bugs and rodents took the lives of thousands leaving Colonial America in terrible condition. The College of Physicians not only established organization during this time of chaos, but they also limited future epidemics like the events that took place in Philadelphia and Colonial America from occurring again. To expand upon, the college created eleven rules for people to follow in order to prevent Yellow Fever from dispersing any further (Dobson 2). These rules included avoiding “all unnecessary intercourse” with those who have contracted the disease; housing all of the diseased in a large open room, removing “offensive matters from the diseased’s room” (2), frequently cleaning the selected room, and bathing the infected as quickly as possible; having a medical center for each city so the poor can also be assisted with regards to Yellow Fever; putting a stop to the ringing of the church bells; burying the dead fever victims in a private manner;

To fully comprehend the effect the yellow fever had on Pennsylvania in 1793, it is necessary to understand disease itself. This instance of widespread yellow fever in Philadelphia is known as an epidemic. An epidemic occurs when there is a pathogen present in the same area area as vulnerable a large number of people vulnerable to the said pathogen. Another common term for an epidemic is outbreak, but an outbreak usually occurs within a more limited area than an epidemic. An epidemic or outbreak can be brought on by an increase of a microbe that causes illness, the introduction of a disease-causing microbe into a new environment, a change to the environment that allows the pathogen to spread more readily, hosts in an area becoming more

Yellow fever came in like a wrecking ball, across Philadelphia, wiping out everyone in it’s path. American and French doctors' are finding out cures to save the infected victims. In Philadelphia of 1793, around 2,000-5,000 people were killed by yellow fever. The reasoning behind why they got yellow fever was because the infected mosquitos. The mosquitoes came in by foreign ships, because of the water at the bottom of the ships.

One of the most prominent themes occurring in these articles is how much remains to be learned about battling illness. There is not a question that our knowledge of medical treatment has advanced well beyond the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793. This is illustrated by Williams (1997), who asserts that most of the life-threatening conditions in today’s developed societies target the elderly. This is because medical knowledge has improved so vastly. Countries with easily accessible health care do not risk children and young to middle aged adults dying from conditions that are easily treatable; however, once one gets to the end of their life, conditions such as cancer and cardiovascular challenges are no longer avoidable like the common cold is in youth. Thus, it is the most fortunate societies that are plagued with high rates of elderly illness because the population is living long enough to be considered elderly.

Nonfiction books are based on facts and associated with real people, and real events, whereas fiction books describe imaginary characters and imaginary events. The acquisition of a character would modify, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 into a fictional story. The character is assigned an essay about the yellow fever pandemic of 1793, with a lack of interest in their project; the student unwillingly begins their research. The character’s disinterest in their topic turns into inquisitiveness about the yellow fever epidemic. The character’s inquiry feeds their imagination and transports them back to 1793 during the time of the epidemic. Experiencing the contagion of yellow fever allows the

“It seems you gentlemen have not the idea of the real reason that Yellow Fever has arrived, due to this fact I suppose i’ll have to educate you on the matter.” I started, “Yellow Fever, it is a quite common thing in Cuba, Now ask yourself, where did those coffee beans come from, and what proof is there that they give the recipient of their smell the deadly fever? Now before you say anything, I’ve received word of a death on this side of town, as a matter of fact, about as close as the blacksmith who’s hammer you hear now. So assuming you’re right about the fever spreading due to those coffee beans, how would this death have occurred? Was the victim of this fever near those coffee beans? No, she wasn’t. Actually, she worked here, as a servant

The fever came to life in the summer of 1793 and became an epidemic. There were Philidelphia and French doctors working on the cure to this yellow fever. Also the doctors both treated fever patients and the were in Philadelphia. All these patients had been bitten by infected mosquitos and people believed that the fever had come from foreign ships. There were somewhere from 2000 to 5000 people that had died from the epidemic.

The Yellow Fever virus came from Central or East Africa. With transmission between primates and humans, the virus has been spread from there to West Africa. The virus was probably brought to the Americas with the slave trade ships from 1492 after the first European exploration. The first case of Yellow fever was recorded in Mexico by Spanish colonists in 1648. Consequently, the virus started to spread also in North America. In Philadelphia in 1793, more than the 9% of the population die. The American government had to escape from the city that was the temporary capital. One of the most famous outbreaks happen in Europe in Barcelona in 1821.How explains the article "The 'plague' of Barcelona. Yellow Fever epidemic of 1821", the outbreak of

Malaria is an illness that is transferred by mosquitoes which killed thousands individuals that lived in tropical regions. Tuberculosis is an infection in the lungs due to bacteria. A bacterial disease causing severe diarrhea and dehydration, usually spread in water. The 1919 influenza is an epidemic that killed millions and millions of individuals. The Ebola fever emerged in Sudan and Zaire. The outbreak in Zaire has one of the highest death rate of any human disease, about 90%. HIV affects the immune system and AID is the last stage of HiV. Millions of individuals died due to HIV and AID. Diabetes is where the body doesn't produce insulin to digest sugar. Diabetes can cause physical disabilities and even death. it changes the lifestyles