Yellow fever Epidemics and Malaria
As a companion thread to Rick's air conditioning thread:
Air conditioning and refrigeration were invented by a doctor to treat swamp air that he (and everyone else at the time) thought came from high temperature and humidity as well as unclean conditions of the swamp life.
For centuries yellow fever caused epidemics the whole world over. It brought construction of the Panama Canal to a halt. Here in Florida coastal towns where shipping was common were often quarantine from more inland settlements by "Shotgun quarantines".
One doctor contracted the desease and was nursed back to health by his wife. His wife and 2 year old duaghter caught it and they both died. So, he was determined to find the cause. In 1873 he decided it was caused by mosquitoes and he even named the tree top mosquito (Aedes Aegypti), now known as the Yellow Fever Mosquito.
Dr. John Perry Wall was ridiculed for his beliefs. He was a supporter of preventative medicine and predicted a drug culture. "The truth is, the public faith in us physicians far exceeds our ability."
He overcame the ridicule to become mayor of Tampa, the first president of the Tampa Board of Trade, and president of the state medical association.
In 1895 he once again reasserted his beliefs in a speech after which he fell dead from a heart attack. 5 years later an Army commission lead by Dr. Harry Reed determined that Yellow Fever was a mosquito born disease.
To put into context how important listening to Dr. Wall could have been, the number of U.S. casualties in the Spanish American War from Yellow Fever greatly exceeded those from combat.
Today I am bitten by the Yellow Fever Mosquito daily along with another invader the Asian Tiger Mosquito. They are small mosquitoes with an intense but short lived sting to their bites. I believe we have some immunity built up to these mosquitoes. But, they are known to carry more exotic vectors as well. They bite all day long indoors in our Quonset hut and anytime you go outside.
Anyway, just as an aside to the Air-conditioning thread.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks