Yellow Fever by Izabella Stompel

Books

izabellastompel94 — 2024-03-27 20:27:55 UTC

Diseases and Disorders

Diseases- spider bites- zoonoses

An American Plague

Affects on people in affected area

izabellastompel94 — 2024-03-28 19:08:09 UTC

Description

emilynewman35 — 2024-03-28 19:14:11 UTC

it is a viral disease that infects the liver, and causes like symptoms that are similar to the Flu but can lead to fatal multi-organ failure as well as death occurring from 8-10 days after symptoms show. There are no specific treatments available, but there are a few things where it can help prolong the person's life but does NOT heal them. While due to vaccinations the amount of infected people has significantly decreased after the main epidemic, but the amounts of cases have been increasing over the past 25 years, and the disease has been deemed a lasting disease. Mostly comes from mosquito bites from mosquitos in Africa but also in South America. When traveling, especially to places where the virus is most common, it is very important to get a vaccine because there is a highly likely chance there will be contact with infected mosquitos and or other infected people - since 1996 six travels have died due to the virus after traveling to South America or Africa.

Diseases and Disorders pg. 899

emilynewman35 — 2024-03-28 19:14:43 UTC

George Washington - he and his family due to the spread of sickness, and blamed his exit on his wife.

Dr. Benjamin Rush - was the only doctor willing to treat people with this and was the main doctor at the time - he was racist though.

Summary & important info from link

izabellastompel94 — 2024-03-28 19:48:35 UTC

During the summer of 1793, Yellow Fever hit hard in Philadelphia when thousands of people caught it (1). Many created theories as to what caused Yellow Fever, since no one knew the exact cause, but in an attempt to avoid getting the killer disease many Philadelphians spaced themselves from each-other. They began placing tobacco and vinegar soaked handkerchiefs on their faces (4-5). Many- Nearly all people in Philadelphia fell ill, but around half the cities population were doctors who didn't want to get sick, however a doctor named Dr. Benjamin Rush worked hard in an attempt to help heal those infected because his own sister died from the deadly disease. However Rush's tactics were cruel and crazy, forcing his patients to throw up (8-9). Benjamin Rush and other white physicians, wrong fully thought that African Americans were immune to getting yellow fever due to "biological differences" which were slightly racist. As a result of this, they made and encouraged African Americans to help heal others who were sick, not knowing it would make them sick as well (12-13). After finding out that African Americans were treating sick patients, a man name Mathew Carey wrote a pamphlet essentially saying that these African Americans were stealing from those they treated, but in an effort to prove these allegations were wrong- Benjamin Rush and the African Americans made their own pamphlet getting rid of all these claims. They Provided eye witnesses and documents showing that they weren't stealing (14).

More people

izabellastompel94 — 2024-03-28 19:53:24 UTC

Alexander Hamilton: got sick while in Philadelphia, along with his wife Eliza Hamilton, however they got treated when they returned back to New York.
Allen & Jones: were writers for the first copyrighted Black Authors pamphlet, and wrote back in response to allegations of African American 'Doctors' stealing from patients.

Links about the disease

izabellastompel94 — 2024-03-28 20:06:30 UTC

Summary from article

izabellastompel94 — 2024-03-28 20:20:15 UTC

Yellow Fever mainly happens in Tropical climates/ zones. Yellow Fever is caused by a flavivirus (group of RNA viruses) and affects humans & some animals. The Fever is passed from animals, mainly from different breeds and types of mosquitoes.

SYMPTOMS

fever
chills
headache
backache
nausea
jaundice (Yellowing of skin, eyes, and liver)
There are no cures for Yellow fever, but there is smaller treatments for the symptoms. Now decades later, Yellow Fever is only active in Africa and South America where the tropical climate and rain forests full of forest monkeys pass the disease.

izabellastompel94 — 2024-03-28 20:23:56 UTC

Information from article

izabellastompel94 — 2024-03-28 20:27:43 UTC

In 1793, due to many foreigners traveling from the Caribbean to Philadelphia (a very tropical place) they brought along the disease of Yellow fever, and the mosquitoes that harbored it. Eventually the disease spread through Philadelphia and only ended when a cold front faced the city, and ended the tropical weather that allowed the mosquitoes to pass the disease.

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-02 12:28:56 UTC

less then 30% of people who are infected - or bitten by a infected mosquito don't ever get sick,

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-02 12:37:05 UTC

as more travel happens and the increase in the species of most commonly infected mosquitos, the fever is spreading to places not as tropical as before. Some of the newly affected areas are North and Central American, the Caribbean, Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Oceania.

izabellastompel94 — 2024-04-02 19:55:23 UTC

izabellastompel94 — 2024-04-02 19:56:16 UTC

izabellastompel94 — 2024-04-02 20:01:09 UTC

starting and ending dates

lundenmassoni38 — 2024-04-02 20:05:00 UTC

izabellastompel94 — 2024-04-02 20:05:05 UTC

Important information from Article

izabellastompel94 — 2024-04-02 20:12:04 UTC

The first couple of cases took place in Africa due to it's very tropical climate in the 1600's (1). Eventually the Epidemic spread to the Western Hemisphere because of Slave trades, and from there spread to the Americas since they took part in a lot of trading which spread the disease (1). Spread to the US in late 1600's, and from there to Europe in the 1700's (1). The Epidemic continued to spread around Tropical Countries and Continents, but cases dropped in the US in 1905, and still lingers in Africa, South America, and other tropical continents.

izabellastompel94 — 2024-04-02 20:14:48 UTC

Causes and reasons

lundenmassoni38 — 2024-04-02 20:16:55 UTC

lundenmassoni38 — 2024-04-02 20:19:58 UTC

Dr. Rush

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-02 20:28:03 UTC

Benjamin Rush (the main physician during this time period and outbreak period) was a hot topic regarding the Yellow Fever because in September of 1793 he announced that he had found a cure for the fever. His treatment was based on intense bleeding and purging with calomel (mercurous chloride), and claimed that through this cure, 8 out of 10 victims could be saved. Many historians of medicine rejected the idea and said it was impossible for that amount of success. It was seen in a study by John Harvey, where he addressed the epidemic in Philadelphia, he found that Rush's "treatment" was basically a death warrant for the patients.

After this discovery that the cure was causing more death, the reliability and trust within him was decreasing and the affected areas were beginning to suffer more without a good doctor. It seemed that his 'cure' was starting to just add to the death count rather than cure patients. His treatment has long sense stopped being used and there was no evidence that there was anyone cured by his treatment.

Some of his treatment was forced vomiting, and bloodletting (the surgical removal of some parts of the patients blood.)

Rush and his sister also fell ill during his extensive work but while he was able to recover, his sister passed away.

People

izabellastompel94 — 2024-04-02 20:28:58 UTC

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-04 01:30:29 UTC

in Philadelphia, 1793, the first known and identified cases was of two workers. They were seen with high fevers, seizure attacks, vomiting, and jaundiced skin. Between August and November of 1793, over 5,000 people died due to this illness. Scientist could not figure out what the cause of the illness was, resulting in the mass amounts of death during the summer and fall of 1793.

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-04 01:33:29 UTC

The term Yellow Fever actually encompasses more than one disease, it is made up of several similar sickness such as West Nile virus and dengue fever.

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-04 01:45:37 UTC

Along with Benjiman Rush, there were a few other Docters who delt with cases of yellow fever, and after several patients came in with the same symptoms the doctors met up and figured out that it was another outbreak like in 1762.

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-04 01:54:37 UTC

Usually, the first symptoms of the fever are typically chills, weakness, headaches, vomiting every now and then, and shortness of breath. After this first bought of symptoms (lasts usually 3-4 days), it diminishes, leaving altogether for some. If this is not the end of the illness, then the next coming symptoms consists of; frequent vomiting with the look and consistency of coffee grounds (came from stale blood hemorrhaged in the stomach); dark yellow colored skin and nails; and incoherent as well as losing consciousness and often times bleeding from the eyes and nose - then the patient would pass away. This prosses took about a week.

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-04 02:01:15 UTC

the people believed that by keeping distance from others, avoiding hand shaking, and wearing face coverings/cloths soaked in vinegar and or smoked tobacco they could avoid breathing in the contaminated air and thus not get sick.

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-04 02:05:42 UTC

Alexander Hamilton got sick near the beginning of the epidemic, and soon traveled away to his summer home a few miles away. His wife fell ill as well, but fortunately they both recovered under the care of Dr. Edwards Stevens.

Dr. Rush and Dr. Edward Stevens

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-04 02:15:28 UTC

Dr. Edward stevens approach to the possible cure was much less violent and more radially available for most patients - cold baths, ingesting large amounts of quinoa, drinking Madeira wine, and hot brandy.

Dr. Rush took to more common practices (in the medical field) - Bloodletting, forced vomiting, and several other painful procedures. Neither method proved to cure the illness and mass amounts of people died and got sick. By November of 1793 the amounts of cases finally subsided but had already killed about 5,000 residents or about one-tenth of the Philadelphian population, and infected hundreds of thousands of others.

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-04 02:21:06 UTC

After the disease settled a little, lots of research was done on it, all without a definite cause, until another outbreak took place among the Spanish soldiers fighting in the Mexican-American war, and this is when Dr. Walter Reed discovered it came from mosquitos.

Image from Yellow Fever Breakout

izabellastompel94 — 2024-04-04 19:51:42 UTC

writing

lundenmassoni38 — 2024-04-04 20:04:58 UTC

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-04 20:05:46 UTC

The people rush by me, coughing, panting, all to the same place; Marine Hospital. They are tripping over themselves, vomit litters the floor, yellow eyes look me down, but as they keep looking, I see, they aren't looking at me, they are looking at death. In their mind, their eyes, they see death.

I feel strangled and caught in a web as I stand in the middle of the chaos filled street. How can everyone be so plagued, so sick? What happened in the matter of only a few days?

I watch as a man falls to the ground, vomiting, blood dripping from his eyes and nose. I can't look away, because what if thats what I will eventually look like?

Another man falls to the ground, a woman, a child, another, another, another. They are tinged yellow, a mound of vomit in front of them, hands wrapped tight around their stomachs and pain etched into their young faces. Somehow, the vinegar soaked cloth over my face seems a speck of dust in a wide room.

I stand still for a few seconds, to disgusted to move - I pick up my feet, and run, run, run. Away from the madness, the chaos, the sickness, the lives lost. I carry my feet to my home, but it's not far enough, not strong enough, not safe enough. There is no escape from a sickness that gets under your skin, under your feet and trips you. Again and again.

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-07 21:38:31 UTC

after Rush and a few other doctors came together to meet and talk about the increase of yellow fever cases(it was not known as or known that it was yellow fever at this time yet), the discovered that it was the same sickness outbreak as in 1762.

"Yellow Jack"

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-09 20:14:58 UTC

through ocean-going trade, yellow fever struck England as well as many other places like Brazil, and knowing that patients that had the fever had to be secluded from other patients and the population, many hospitals had separate areas for them. Greenwich Hospital in England had yellow fever patients dressed in jackets with yellow patches so others knew to watch out for them, they were nicknamed "Yellow Jackets". The hospital area that was for them also had a yellow flag flying over the quarantined area, which was nicknamed the "Yellow Jack". (Viruses, Plagues, & History, pg. 104)

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-11 02:53:53 UTC

in the 1790's, before many cures came about, many cities within England suffered through smallpox, and Yellow Fever. These hit cities hard because of the close proximity of the population. At the time, there was no cure for Yellow Fever and most that got it would pass away. The countryside however stayed mostly free of these viral diseases because people had more sanitary environments, less people around them, and cleaner air.

Starting Date

emilynewman35 — 2024-04-17 01:24:30 UTC

the epidemic was first seen in late July of 1793, and lasted to November of the same year.

African Americans as Doctors

izabellastompel94 — 2024-04-22 19:37:14 UTC

Summary of article

izabellastompel94 — 2024-04-22 19:43:06 UTC

Many people and doctors believed that African Americans had thicker skin and their blood would clean out any sickness's quicker than Whites would. As a result of this, African Americans were "encouraged" to be doctors and treat White patients. Additionally, doctors eventually realized that African Americans could just as easily catch Yellow Fever, as Whites could.