The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic That Shaped Our History.THE AMERICAN PLAGUE: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever yellow fever, acute infectious disease endemic in tropical Africa and many areas of South America. Epidemics have extended into subtropical and temperate regions during warm seasons. , the Epidemic That Shaped Our History MOLLY CALDWELL CROSBY Its symptoms were gruesome: What would begin as a mere fever would give way to painful bouts of vomiting vomiting, ejection of food and other matter from the stomach through the mouth, often preceded by nausea. The process is initiated by stimulation of the vomiting center of the brain by nerve impulses from the gastrointestinal tract or other part of the body. blood and hemorrhaging from the eyes, nose, and AMERICAN mouth. The skin and eyes would turn a sickly shade of yellow. The summer of 1878 saw the worst epidemic of yellow fever in U.S. history, with 17,000 people infected. In her first book, Crosby describes the history of this epidemic, the frantic work by doctors, and the federal government's attempts to reassure the nation. In 1900, the battle against yellow fever moved to Cuba, where Walter Reed Noun 1. Walter Reed - United States physician who proved that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes (1851-1902) Reed made the momentous decision to investigate the relationship between the disease and mosquitoes. Crosby ends the book by examining the possibility of a new epidemic of yellow fever, as poverty and overpopulation overpopulation Situation in which the number of individuals of a given species exceeds the number that its environment can sustain. Possible consequences are environmental deterioration, impaired quality of life, and a population crash (sudden reduction in numbers caused by in West Africa West Africa A region of western Africa between the Sahara Desert and the Gulf of Guinea. It was largely controlled by colonial powers until the 20th century. West African adj. & n. today provide conditions similar to those of 1878. Berkeley, 2006, 308 p., b&w plates, hardcover, $24.95. |
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