Check out a timeline for Yellow Fever.
Here's a link to information of the historical 1793, Yellow Fever Epidemic in Philadelphia:
http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/yellowfever.html
Some essential and fascinating facts from the link:
- Philadelphia was the nation's capital and most cosmopolitan city in U.S. in 1793.
- Out of a population of 45,000 people in Philadelphia during that time, 5,000 people died and 17,000 people fled because of yellow fever.
- Yellow Fever symptoms: yellowing of eyes and skin, stomach bleeding manifested by black vomit, and organ failures
- Virus vector: infected mosquitoes
- Physician Benjamin Rush treated patients by drawing large quantities of blood from them and administering mercury.
According the U.S. National Library of Medicine, there is no specific treatment for yellow fever. Prevention from yellow fever is to get vaccinated prior to traveling to endemic areas (South America and Sub-Saharan Africa) and wearing protective clothing, using mosquito repellent, and sleeping with a net.
This is a great post for getting prior knowledge about Yellow Fever, Nga, thank you!
ReplyDeleteI learned so much about the fever from your notes and from delving into the links themselves. Some other information I found important and interesting is that Philadelphia was the biggest city and Capitol of the USA at the time that the fever broke out. Federal and local politicians, including President of the time George Washington, had to flee the city.
Scientists first thought that the fever was the result of pollution and then from rotting coffee beans on the docks. African Americans were also first thought to be immune put only later to find out not when they were infected as well.