The evolutionary origins of
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...
most likely came from Africa.
Phylogenetic analyses indicate that the virus originated from East or Central Africa, with transmission between primates and humans, and spread from there to West Africa. The virus as well as the vector ''Aedes aegypti'', a mosquito species, were probably brought to the western hemisphere and the Americas by
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
ships from Africa after the first European exploration in
1492. However, some researchers have argued that yellow fever might have existed in the Americas during the pre-Columbian period as mosquitoes of the genus ''Haemagogus'', which is indigenous to the Americas, have been known to carry the disease.
The first outbreaks of disease that were probably yellow fever occurred in the
Windward Islands
french: Îles du Vent
, image_name =
, image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada.
, image_alt =
, locator_map =
, location = Caribbean Sea No ...
of the Caribbean, on
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...
in 1647 and
Guadeloupe in 1648.
Barbados had undergone an ecological transformation with the introduction of sugar cultivation by the Dutch. Plentiful forests present in the 1640s were completely gone by the 1660s. By the early 18th century, the same transformation related to sugar cultivation had occurred on the larger islands of
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
,
Hispaniola and
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. Spanish colonists recorded an outbreak in 1648 on the
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...
of
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
that may have been yellow fever. The illness was called ''xekik'' (black vomit) by the
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...
.
At least 25 major outbreaks followed in North America, such as in 1793 in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, where several thousand people died, more than nine percent of the total population. The American government, including
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
, had to flee the city, which was the capital of the United States at the time. In 1878, about 20,000 people died in an epidemic which struck the towns of the
Mississippi River Valley
The Mississippi embayment is a physiographic feature in the south-central United States, part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. It is essentially a northward continuation of the fluvial sediments of the Mississippi River Delta to its conflue ...
and its tributaries. The last major outbreak in the US occurred in 1905 in
. Major outbreaks also occurred in Europe in the 19th century in Atlantic ports following the arrival of sailing vessels from the Caribbean, most often from Havana.
Outbreaks occurred in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, Spain, in 1803, 1821, and 1870. In the 1870 outbreak, 1,235 fatalities were recorded of an estimated 12,000 cases. Smaller outbreaks occurred in
Saint-Nazaire
Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany.
The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...
in France,
Swansea in Wales, and in other European port cities, following the arrival of vessels carrying the mosquito vector.
The first mention of the disease by the name "yellow fever" occurred in 1744.
Many famous people, mostly during the 18th through the 20th centuries, contracted and then recovered from, or died of, yellow fever.
Philadelphia 1793-1805
The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 struck during the summer in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, Pennsylvania, where the highest fatalities in the United States were recorded. The disease probably was brought by refugees and mosquitoes on ships from
Saint-Domingue. It rapidly spread in the port city, in the crowded blocks along the Delaware River. About 5000 people died, ten percent of the population of 50,000. The city was then the national capital, and the national government left the city, including President
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
. Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York suffered repeated epidemics in the 18th and 19th centuries, as did other cities along the East and Gulf coasts.
At the time, the known solution to recovery was found to be long and tedious as it was expected that patients needed to consume bitters and country air away from the metropolitan area, in order to recover.
Yet the average citizen typically sought medical help from the Pennsylvania Hospital.
Year after year starting in 1793, yellow fever returned to major cities along the east coast including Philadelphia leaving investigators stagnant in regard to progress made in the search for the cause of yellow fever.
Yellow Fever's prevalence during this era killed over 10,000 people starting in 1793 where nearly 5,000 people died, striking again in 1797 tallying about 1,500 people, and again the next year in 1798 killing 3,645 people.
Potential Causes
With the spread of yellow fever in 1793, physicians of the time used the increase number of patients to increase the knowledge in disease as the spread of yellow fever, helping differentiate between other prevalent diseases during the time period as
cholera, and
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
were current epidemics of the time as well.
As doctors and people of interest investigated the cause of yellow fever, two main hypotheses derived from the confusing data they collected.
The first being the disease is contagious, as the disease is spread through the contact of people, as ships from the already infected Caribbean Islands had spread to major cities.
The second hypothesis being that the disease derived from local sources proposing that contact with them caused the sickness rather than the spreading be with people as yellow fever seemed to be prevalent in major cities and less effective in rural areas.
Haiti: 1790–1802
The majority of the British soldiers sent to Haiti in the 1790s died of disease, chiefly yellow fever.
[Marr, John S., and John T. Cathey. "The 1802 Saint-Domingue yellow fever epidemic and the Louisiana Purchase." ''Journal of Public Health Management and Practice'' 19#.1 (2013): 77–82]
online
. Also via: There has been considerable debate over whether the number of deaths caused by disease was exaggerated.
In 1802–1803, an army of forty thousand sent by First Consul
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
of France to
Saint Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to re ...
to suppress the
Haitian Revolution mounted by slaves, was decimated by an epidemic of yellow fever (among the casualties was the expedition's commander and Bonaparte's brother-in-law,
Charles Leclerc
Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc (; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver, currently racing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He won the GP3 Series championship in 2016 and the FIA Formula 2 Championship in .
Leclerc ...
). Some historians believe Napoleon intended to use the island as a staging point for an invasion of the United States through
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
(then newly regained by the French from the Spanish.).
Others believe that he was most intent on regaining control of the lucrative sugar production and trade in
Saint-Domingue. Only one-third of the French troops survived to return to France, and in 1804 the new republic of
Haiti declared its independence.
Savannah, Georgia: 1820
Nearly 700 people in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...
, died from yellow fever in 1820, including two local physicians who lost their lives caring for the stricken. An outbreak on an immigrant ship with Irish natives in 1819 led to a passage of an act to prevent the arrival of immigrant ships, which did not prevent the epidemic where 23% of the deaths were of Irish descent. Several other epidemics followed, including 1854 and 1876.
New Orleans, Louisiana: 1853
The 1853 outbreak claimed 7,849 residents of New Orleans. The press and the medical profession did not alert citizens of the outbreak until the middle of July, after more than one thousand people had already died. The New Orleans business community feared that word of an epidemic would cause a
quarantine
A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...
to be placed on the city, and their trade would suffer. In such epidemics, steamboats frequently carried passengers and the disease upriver from New Orleans to other cities along the Mississippi River.
The epidemic was dramatized and featured in the plot of the 1938 film ''
'', starring
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
.
Yellow fever was a threat in New Orleans and south Louisiana virtually every year, during the warmest months. Among the more prominent victims were:
Spanish colonial Governor
Manuel Gayoso de Lemos
Don Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos y Amorín, KOM, OTS (May 30, 1747 – July 18, 1799) was the governor of Spanish Louisiana from 1797 until his death in 1799.
Biography
Early years and military career
Born in Oporto, Portugal, on May 30, ...
(1799); the first and second wives (d. 1804 and 1809) and young daughter (1804) of
territorial
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
Governor
William C. C. Claiborne; one of New Orleans' most important early city planners
Barthelemy Lafon
Barthélemy Lafon (1769–1820) was a notable Creole architect, engineer, city planner, and surveyor in New Orleans, Louisiana. He appears to have had a double life, as a respectable architect, engineer, and citizen; but also as a privateer, smug ...
(1820), architect
Benjamin Henry Latrobe
Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was an Anglo-American neoclassical architect who emigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in the new United States, draw ...
and one of his sons (1820, 1817, respectively), who were in New Orleans building the city's first waterworks;
Jesse Burton Harrison (1841), a young lawyer and author;
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
Brig. Gen.
Young Marshall Moody (1866); architect
James Gallier, Jr. (1868); and Confederate Lt. Gen.
John Bell Hood
John Bell Hood (June 1 or June 29, 1831 – August 30, 1879) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Although brave, Hood's impetuosity led to high losses among his troops as he moved up in rank. Bruce Catton wrote that "the de ...
and his wife and daughter (1879).
Norfolk, Virginia: 1855
![Yellow Fever Memorial in Laurel Hill Cemetery](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Yellow_Fever_Memorial_in_Laurel_Hill_Cemetery.jpg)
A ship carrying persons infected with the virus arrived in
Hampton Roads in southeastern
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
in June 1855.
[ (undated newspaper clipping).] The disease spread quickly through the community, eventually killing over 3,000 people, mostly residents of
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
and
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
. The
Howard Association, a benevolent organization, was formed to help coordinate assistance in the form of funds, supplies, and medical professionals and volunteers, who poured in from many other areas, particularly the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
and
Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...
areas of the United States.
Bermuda: 1843, 1853. 1856, 1864
Bermuda suffered four yellow fever epidemics in the 1800s, both mosquito borne and via visiting ships, and in total claimed the lives of 13,356 people, including Military and civilian population. During the 1864 epidemic, a Dr.
Luke Pryor Blackburn, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, visited the island several times, to assist the local medical community on account of his knowledge of the disease, and when he left in October 1864, he left behind some trunks of soiled clothing that were to have been sent to him in Canada. Fortunately the trunks were located and the contents destroyed.
It became evident that Dr Blackburn's visits had been financed by the Confederacy, and that a certain Union informer had been offered $60,000 to distribute Dr. Blackburn's trunks of soiled clothing to Union cities including Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and Norfolk. Also one trunk went to New Bern, which was identified as having brought yellow fever to that city, claiming the lives of 2,000 people.
Blackburn was arrested and tried, but acquitted owing to lack of evidence, other than hearsay by witnesses, meaning that the culprit trunks could not be located, and in 1878, he went on heroically, to fight yellow fever in Kentucky where he had set up practice in Louisville, and was eventually elected governor of that state.
Texas and Louisiana: 1867
The 1867 yellow fever epidemic claimed many casualties in the southern counties of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, as well as in New Orleans. The deaths in Texas included
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
Maj. Gen.
Charles Griffin
Charles Griffin (December 18, 1825 – September 15, 1867) was a career officer in the United States Army and a Union general in the American Civil War. He rose to command a corps in the Army of the Potomac and fought in many of the key campaign ...
,
Margaret Lea Houston
Margaret Lea Houston (April 11, 1819 – December 3, 1867) was First Lady of the Republic of Texas during her husband Sam Houston's second term as President of the Republic of Texas. They met following the first of his two non-consecutive term ...
(Mrs. Sam Houston), and at least two young physicians and their family members.
Lower Mississippi Valley: 1878
In 1878, a severe yellow fever epidemic swept through the lower Mississippi Valley.
The French Panama Canal Effort: 1882–1889
The French effort to build a
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
was damaged by the prevalence of endemic tropical diseases in the Isthmus. Although
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
was also a serious problem for the French canal builders, the numerous yellow fever fatalities and the fear they engendered made it difficult for the French company to retain sufficient technical staff to sustain the effort. Since the mode of transmission of the disease was unknown, the French response to the disease was limited to care of the sick. The French hospitals contained many pools of stagnant water, such as basins underneath potted plants, in which mosquitoes could breed. The numerous deaths eventually led to the failure of the French company licensed to build the canal, resulting in a massive financial crisis in France.
McCullough, David
David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United State ...
(1978), '' The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870–1914,'' New York: Simon & Schuster (a comprehensive history of the building of the canal).
References
External links
"'Bronze John': Yellow fever epidemics in New Orleans"at ''
The Times-Picayune
''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of ...
''; updated 27 September 2013, accessed 31 October 2015.
Great Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1820historical marker in Savannah, Georgia
{{History of infectious disease
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...
Yellow fever