The History of Yellow Fever

Here is a brief history of the yellow fever within the United States. From 1793 to 1822 the Yellow Fever virus was feared among port towns of the US. Fevers in those days where associated strongly with fatalities rather than a simple temperature change and some over the counter medicine. It was unknown to them at the time what caused the deadly Yellow Fever, and mosquitoes that carried the virus typically had easy access to households with no screens and thrived in the busy streets of port towns.
There were people immune to the virus through earlier exposure such as experienced seamen, natives of Africa and those who survived the two bouts of Yellow fever in 1741 and 1762. This immunity was, however, a concept unknown to doctors at the time.

The History of Yellow Fever is most famous in Philadelphia where a particularly fearsome epidemic struck one August. Many people who contracted the virus fell generally ill and then began to feel better. They returned to their places of work only to die form the disease a few days later. The symptoms were particularly horrific, characterised by blood pouring from every orifice including skin pores and pitch black vomit.