Epidemics In The Nineteenth Century

Laurie Halse Anderson masterfully tells the story of Mattie Cook and her family’s struggles though the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. While Mattie and her family are fictional characters, the epidemic which struck Philadelphia was quite real. Based on what I have read so far in the novel, Fever 18793, I believe it is reasonable to infer that Matte’s mother will die or may even be dead already, but Mattie does not know it yet Lucille, Mattie’s mother, definitely has yellow fever.In Chapter 10, Dr. Kerr visits Mattie’s mother and tells her, “Autumnal fever indeed. Your mother has yellow fever. There’s no double at all” (Anderson 71). The reader clearly knows that yellow fever has proven deadly for many Philadelphia

During the Revolutionary War, one of the main fears were not the enemies bullets, but fear of disease. One of the major viruses that people had to fear was smallpox. The continental army had more to fear than the British in the fact that British had been immunized, and the continental army had not. This was only the beginning of the problems from the smallpox epidemic that broke out in America.

While reading An American Plague, I noticed an interesting detail that so many people were dying at the beginning of the fever according to Murphy (2003) “ On wednesday twelve more died; thirteen died on Thursday. Others besides the doctors were beginning to notice the illness. “ . I wonder if there was or is any way of preventing the fever from happening . According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) it states that you should beware of mosquitoes peaking hours from dusk to dawn . Also it states to use insect repellent with picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptus on exposed skin . Also there is a vaccination from it , but the (CDC) recommends not getting that vaccination only if you are going where risk of the yellow

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, as the country grew and trade flourished, periodic epidemics struck regions of the nation as population density increased. Outbreaks of influenza, cholera took over the nation, and in the south, one of the most prevalent was yellow fever. Due to these diseases, a lot of public health policies were either created or changed to better suit the new issues arising. In this essay, I will argue that the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 brought upon many changes in the health realm in terms of public sanitation. In order to prove the epidemic s place in the history of health policies, I will be discussing the creation of the new sewer system, waste disposal techniques, and other projects created.

For example, a recent craze has taken over shoppers as many shove others out of the way, for a colored water bottle with a straw. Society

Imagine waking up in the middle of the night, you’re sweating, coughing, and starting to throw up. In today’s world, doctors are available for situations like these. Before the 1800’s, doctors were not as common, and their techniques were questionable. It wasn’t until the 1800’s, that doctors and scientists began discovering and creating medicines and vaccines to help cure sickness and disease. During the 1800’s, there were very many medical advancements. Because there were a lot of medical advancements, there were conflictions such as medical/scientific concerns, ethical concerns, legal changes, and how the economy was affected.

During the 1800s, there was several diseases affecting people left and right. “Diseases such as tuberculosis, smallpox, measles, chickenpox, cholera, whooping cough and influenza, among others” (“1800s: My Place, Diseases”) were some of the known diseases that would cripple or cause death to multiple people. Often Plantation owners and their slaves would have the same diseases, but plantation owners had a higher chance at surviving than slaves did. Doctors would prescribe the same treatment to anyone with a disease, usually natural herbs or bleeding out. Doctors from England that lived in America could no longer visit England for medical advice after the Revolutionary War, so several doctors started to improvise with many different remedies

Diseases have always been a threat to humans, all throughout history. One of the most destructive disease outbreaks in history was the plague outbreak which peaked in 1346 to 1353, in Europe, commonly known as the Black Death. This plague outbreak was extremely deadly and killed 30-60% of the European population at the time of the outbreak. The outbreak is commonly believed to have been caused by the bubonic plague, but modern evidence suggests that the Black Death was caused by pneumonic plague, a much more contagious and deadly infection.

If science has taught us anything, it is that one event invariably effects countless others. This is no more evident than when a species is introduced into a new environment. Once a foreign species finds itself in new surroundings, it can either die or adapt. Often, these introduced species take over the environment, irrevocably changing it to fit their needs. This usually leads to a serious deteriorating in the well being of species currently existing there. Such is the case as when the Europeans introduced themselves to the New World. The new arrivals not only brought themselves, their technologies, and ways of life, but, most disastrously, their diseases arrived as well.

The Black Plague outbreak was one of the scariest events in human history. The people were afraid to do everyday activities and carry on with their normal routines. This plague is known to almost every person on Earth. Even as a kid, teachers tell their students about this plague. Even the thought of an outbreak like the Black Plague makes people’s skin crawl. I am included in that category. It has gotten to the point that when any outbreak of any type or kind of disease happens that the world gets into panic mode. All of this panic comes from the Black Death. In this synthesis and analysis essay I will cover the places the Black Plague reached, the effects of the Black Plague, and the thoughts of the people that lived in

The American Plague, Molly Caldwell Crosby’s nonfiction novel, accounts the journey of yellow fever from an African virus to the remarkably deadly epidemic that shaped American history in an often overlooked way. Crosby’s novel aims to give insight to the historical impact of yellow fever in the Americas, especially the United States. The novel guides through the history of the titular “American Plague”, yellow fever, in three main parts: its height epidemic in the United States, specifically in Memphis, the Commission to find the cause and vaccine for it, in Cuba, and the effects and presence the epidemic has in the present.

The third and final wave of this lethal killer came in the spring of 1919. Although this mutation was less deadly than its predecessor, it still devastated communities as it continued to add to the death toll. This outbreak was responsible for taking away ten years from the average life expectancy of a person, kept people in a constant panic, and “In its wake, the pandemic would leave about twenty million dead across the world. In America alone, about 675,000 people in a population of 105 million would die from the disease.3” Governments and private organizations both scrambled to find a cure and in 1918 they believed they might have found the source of the virus to be a bacteria rather than a virus. They operated under that assumption until

We are all aware of the tragedy that took place in our nation from 1861 to 1865. The Civil War resulted in needless, devastating deaths of thousands of soldiers. What we might not be aware of, however, is the number one killer throughout those years. More soldiers died from this single calamity than battle wounds or blood loss. The catastrophe that tragically affected more soldiers than any other element of the war was disease.

The Great Plague, lasting from 1665 to 1666, was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. It happened within the centuries-long time period of the Second Pandemic, an extended period of intermittent bubonic plague epidemics which began in Europe in 1347, the first year of the Black Death, an outbreak which included other forms such as pneumonic plague, and lasted until 1750.[1]

Sexually transmitted diseases were a quiet priority for nineteenth century Britain. STDs or venereal diseases were a significant cause of ill and efficient troops around the country as well as in the colonies. It was a ‘quiet’ priority because of the aversion to open conversations about sex in Victorian Britain but the need to have British soldiers less footloose and more fighting-fit. These diseases were a high priority for the British government as they enacted a law solely to attempt to manage the contraction of the infections. The social stigma surrounding sexually transmitted diseases meant that women and women’s morality was targeted to manage venereal diseases rather than targeting the ‘primal’ behaviour of soldiers and other men of