Editing Yellow fever (section)

===Early history===
[[File:Affinerie des sucres (1).JPG|thumb|Sugar curing house, 1762: Sugar pots and jars on sugar plantations served as breeding place for larvae of ''A. aegypti'', the vector of yellow fever.]]
[[File:Yellow Fever Deaths Lafayette Cemetery 1 New Orleans.jpg|thumb|Headstones of people who died in the [[History of yellow fever#Lower Mississippi Valley: 1878|yellow fever epidemic of 1878]] can be found in New Orleans' cemeteries]]
[[File:James Biddle to Sec Nav Thompson re deaths aboard USS Macedonian 3 August 1822 p 1.jpg|thumb|upright|A page from Commodore James Biddle's list of the 76 dead (74 of yellow fever) aboard the USS ''Macedonian'', dated 3 August 1822]]

The evolutionary origins of yellow fever most likely lie in Africa, with transmission of the disease from nonhuman primates to humans.<ref name="pmid14696332">{{cite book |vauthors=Gould EA, de Lamballerie X, Zanotto PM, Holmes EC |title=Origins, evolution, coadaptations within the genus Flavivirus |series=Advances in Virus Research |volume=59 |pages=277–314 |year=2003 |pmid=14696332 |doi=10.1016/S0065-3527(03)59008-X |isbn=978-0-12-039859-1 }}</ref><ref name="Bryant2007"/> The virus is thought to have originated in East or Central Africa and spread from there to West Africa. As it was endemic in Africa, local populations had developed some immunity to it. When an outbreak of yellow fever would occur in an African community where colonists resided, most Europeans died, while the indigenous Africans usually developed nonlethal symptoms resembling [[influenza]].<ref name=Old2009/> This phenomenon, in which certain populations develop immunity to yellow fever due to prolonged exposure in their childhood, is known as [[acquired immunity]].<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = McNeill JR |title=Mosquito Empires: Ecology and war in the greater Caribbean, 1620–1914 |url=https://archive.org/details/mosquitoempirese00mcne |url-access=limited |year=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=NY |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mosquitoempirese00mcne/page/n63 44]–45}}</ref> The virus, as well as the vector ''A. aegypti,'' were probably transferred to North and South America with the trafficking of [[Atlantic slave trade|slaves]] from Africa, part of the [[Columbian exchange]] following European exploration and colonization.<ref name="pmid30158957">{{cite journal | vauthors = Chippaux JP, Chippaux A | title = Yellow fever in Africa and the Americas: a historical and epidemiological perspective | journal = The Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases | volume = 24 | issue = | page = 20 | date = 2018 | pmid = 30158957 | pmc = 6109282 | doi = 10.1186/s40409-018-0162-y | doi-access = free }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Robert L. |title=Yellow fever: Ecology, epidemiology, and role in the collapse of the Classic lowland Maya civilization |journal=Medical Anthropology |date=November 1994 |volume=16 |issue=1–4 |pages=269–294 |doi=10.1080/01459740.1994.9966118 |pmid=8643025 }}</ref>

The first definitive outbreak of yellow fever in the New World was in 1647 on the island of [[Barbados]].<ref name=mcneill>{{cite journal |last1=McNeill |first1=J. R. |title=Yellow Jack and Geopolitics: Environment, Epidemics, and the Struggles for Empire in the American Tropics, 1650-1825 |journal=OAH Magazine of History |date=April 2004 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=9–13 |doi=10.1093/maghis/18.3.9 }}</ref> An outbreak was recorded by Spanish colonists in 1648 in the [[Yucatán Peninsula]], where the [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] [[Mayan people]] called the illness ''xekik'' ("blood vomit"). In 1685, Brazil suffered its first epidemic in [[Recife]]. The first mention of the disease by the name "yellow fever" occurred in 1744.<ref>The earliest mention of "yellow fever" appears in a manuscript of 1744 by [[John Mitchell (geographer)|Dr. John Mitchell]] of Virginia; copies of the manuscript were sent to Mr. [[Cadwallader Colden]], a physician in New York, and to Dr. [[Benjamin Rush]] of Philadelphia; the manuscript was eventually printed (in large part) in 1805 and reprinted in 1814.  See:
* {{cite journal | vauthors = | title = Dr. John Mitchell's Account of the Yellow Fever in Virginia in 1741-42, Written in 1748 | journal = Annals of Medical History | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 91–92 | date = January 1934 | pmid = 33944007 | pmc = 7943142 | doi = | url = }}</ref><ref>(John Mitchell) (1805) [https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ21Uy4-lb0C&pg=PA1 (Mitchell's account of the Yellow Fever in Virginia in 1741–2)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223052443/https://books.google.com/books?id=kJ21Uy4-lb0C&pg=PA1|date=2017-02-23}}, ''The Philadelphia Medical Museum,'' 1 (1) : 1–20.</ref><ref>(John Mitchell) (1814) [https://books.google.com/books?id=_EZJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA181 "Account of the Yellow fever which prevailed in Virginia in the years 1737, 1741, and 1742, in a letter to the late Cadwallader Colden, Esq. of New York, from the late John Mitchell, M.D.F.R.S. of Virginia,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223052456/https://books.google.com/books?id=_EZJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA181|date=2017-02-23}} ''American Medical and Philosophical Register'', '''4''' : 181–215. The term ''yellow fever'' appears on p.&nbsp;186. On p.&nbsp;188, Mitchell mentions "... the distemper was what is generally called yellow fever in America." However, on pages 191–192, he states "... I shall consider the cause of the yellowness which is so remarkable in this distemper, as to have given it the name of the Yellow Fever." Unfortunately, Mitchell misidentified the cause of yellow fever, believing it was transmitted through '"putrid miasma" in the air.'{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}</ref>

However, Dr. Mitchell misdiagnosed the disease that he observed and treated, and the disease was probably [[Weil's disease]] or [[hepatitis]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Jarcho S | title = John Mitchell, Benjamin Rush, and yellow fever | journal = Bulletin of the History of Medicine | volume = 31 | issue = 2 | pages = 132–136 | year = 1957 | pmid = 13426674 }}</ref> McNeill argues that the environmental and ecological disruption caused by the introduction of [[History of sugar|sugar plantations]] created the conditions for mosquito and viral reproduction, and subsequent outbreaks of yellow fever.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = McNeill J |title=Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620–1914 |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-511-67268-2}}</ref> Deforestation reduced populations of insectivorous birds and other creatures that fed on mosquitoes and their eggs.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Burkett-Cadena ND, Vittor AY | title = Deforestation and vector-borne disease: Forest conversion favors important mosquito vectors of human pathogens | journal = Basic and Applied Ecology | volume = 26 | pages = 101–110 | date = February 2018 | pmid = 34290566 | pmc = 8290921 | doi = 10.1016/j.baae.2017.09.012 | bibcode = 2018BApEc..26..101B }}</ref>

In [[British America|Colonial times]] and during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the West Indies were known as a particularly dangerous posting for soldiers due to yellow fever being endemic in the area.<ref>{{Cite journal | vauthors = Buckley RN |date=1978 |title=The Destruction of the British Army in the West Indies 1793-1815: A Medical History |journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research |volume=56 |issue=226 |pages=79–92 |jstor=44224266 |pmid=11614813 }}</ref> The mortality rate in British garrisons in [[Jamaica]] was seven times that of garrisons in Canada, mostly because of yellow fever and other tropical diseases.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = McNeill JR | title = Yellow fever and geopolitics: environment, epidemics, and the struggles for empire in the American tropics, 1650-1900 | journal = History Now | volume = 8 | issue = 2 | pages = 10–16 | date = 2002 | pmid = 20690235 }}</ref> Both English and French forces posted there were seriously affected by the "yellow jack".<ref>{{Cite journal | vauthors = McNeill JR |date=2004 |title=Yellow Jack and Geopolitics: Environment, Epidemics, and the Struggles for Empire in the American Tropics, 1640-1830 |journal=Review (Fernand Braudel Center) |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=343–364 |jstor=40241611 }}</ref> Wanting to regain control of the lucrative sugar trade in [[Saint-Domingue]] (Hispaniola), and with an eye on regaining France's New World empire, Napoleon sent an army under the command of his brother-in-law General [[Charles Leclerc (general, born 1772)|Charles Leclerc]] to Saint-Domingue to seize control after a slave revolt.<ref>{{Cite web | vauthors = Marshall A |date=2020-11-18 |title=What was the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804)? |url=https://bootcampmilitaryfitnessinstitute.com/2020/11/18/what-was-the-haitian-revolution-1791-1804/ |access-date=2022-04-25 |website=Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute |language=en-GB}}</ref> The historian J. R. McNeill asserts that yellow fever accounted for about 35,000 to 45,000 casualties of these forces during the fighting.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = McNeill JR |title=Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620–1914 |year=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=259}}</ref> Only one-third of the French troops survived for withdrawal and return to France. Napoleon gave up on the island and his plans for North America, selling the [[Louisiana Purchase]] to the US in 1803. In 1804, [[Haiti]] proclaimed its independence as the second republic in the Western Hemisphere.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-02-11 |title=Haiti profile - Timeline |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19548814 |access-date=2022-04-25}}</ref> Considerable debate exists over whether the number of deaths caused by disease in the [[Haitian Revolution]] was exaggerated.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Girard PR |title=The Slaves Who Defeated Napoleon: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian War of Independence, 1801–1804 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=03XSP22p3kgC&pg=PA179 |year=2011 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |pages=179–80 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911094340/https://books.google.com/books?id=03XSP22p3kgC&pg=PA179 |archive-date=2016-09-11 |isbn=978-0-8173-1732-4}}</ref>

Although yellow fever is most prevalent in tropical-like climates, the northern United States was not exempt from the fever. The first outbreak in English-speaking North America occurred in [[New York City]] in 1668.<ref>{{Cite book | vauthors = Kotar SL, Gessler JE |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odYBDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 |title=Yellow Fever: A Worldwide History |date=2017-02-03 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2628-4 |language=en}}</ref> English colonists in [[Philadelphia]] and the French in the [[Mississippi River Valley]] recorded major outbreaks in 1669, as well as additional yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia, [[Baltimore]], and New York City in the 18th and 19th centuries. The disease traveled along [[steamboat]] routes from New Orleans, causing some 100,000–150,000 deaths in total.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Patterson KD | title = Yellow fever epidemics and mortality in the United States, 1693-1905 | journal = Social Science & Medicine | volume = 34 | issue = 8 | pages = 855–865 | date = April 1992 | pmid = 1604377 | doi = 10.1016/0277-9536(92)90255-O }}</ref> The [[Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793|yellow fever epidemic of 1793]] in Philadelphia, which was then the capital of the United States, resulting in the deaths of several thousand people, more than 9% of the population.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Miller JC |title=The Wages of Blackness: African American Workers and the Meanings of Race during Philadelphia's 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic |journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |year=2005 |volume=129 |issue=2 |pages=163–194}}</ref> One of these deaths was [[James Hutchinson (physician)|James Hutchinson]], a physician helping to treat the population of the city. The [[Relocation of the United States Government to Trenton|national government fled]] the city to Trenton, New Jersey, including President [[George Washington]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Yellow Fever Attacks Philadelphia, 1793 |work=EyeWitness to History |url=http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/yellowfever.htm |access-date=2009-08-14 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607233805/http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/yellowfever.htm |archive-date=2007-06-07 }}</ref>

The southern city of [[New Orleans]] was plagued with major epidemics during the 19th century, most notably in 1833 and 1853.<ref>{{Cite news |title=How Yellow Fever Turned New Orleans Into The 'City Of The Dead' |language=en |work=Codeswitch |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/10/31/415535913/how-yellow-fever-turned-new-orleans-into-the-city-of-the-dead |access-date=2022-04-25}}</ref> A major epidemic occurred in both New Orleans and [[Shreveport, Louisiana]], in 1873. Its residents called the disease "yellow jack". Urban epidemics continued in the United States until 1905, with the last outbreak affecting New Orleans.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Pierce J, Writer J  |title=Yellow Jack: How Yellow Fever ravaged America and Walter Reed Discovered Its Deadly Secrets |url=https://archive.org/details/yellowjackhowyel0000pier |url-access=registration |year=2005 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Hoboken |page=[https://archive.org/details/yellowjackhowyel0000pier/page/3 3]}}</ref><ref name="Barr2007" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1545 |title=The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture:Yellow Fever Epidemics |publisher=Tennessee Historical Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212071247/http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1545 |archive-date=December 12, 2013 |url-status=live |access-date=June 20, 2013}}</ref>

At least 25 major outbreaks took place in the Americas during the 18th and 19th centuries, including particularly serious ones in [[Cartagena, Chile]], in 1741; Cuba in 1762 and 1900; [[Santo Domingo]] in 1803; and [[Memphis, Tennessee]], in 1878.<ref>John S. Marr, 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. [http://s2.medicina.uady.mx/observatorio/docs/er/ac/RE2013_Ac_Marr.pdf online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204181607/http://s2.medicina.uady.mx/observatorio/docs/er/ac/RE2013_Ac_Marr.pdf |date=2016-02-04 }}</ref>

In the early 19th century, the prevalence of yellow fever in the Caribbean "led to serious health problems" and alarmed the [[United States Navy]] as numerous deaths and sickness curtailed naval operations and destroyed morale.<ref>Langley, Harold D. ''A History of Medicine in the Early U.S. Navy'' (Johns Hopkins Press: Baltimore 1995), 274-275</ref> One episode began in April 1822 when the frigate [[HMS Macedonian|USS ''Macedonian'']] left [[Boston]] and became part of Commodore James Biddle's West India Squadron. Unbeknownst to all, they were about to embark on a cruise to disaster and their assignment "would prove a cruise through hell".<ref name="Sharp The Disastrous Voyage">{{cite web | vauthors = Sharp JG | title = The Disastrous Voyage: Yellow Fever aboard the USS Macedonian & USS Peacock, 1822 | access-date = 15 August 2020 | url = http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/portsmouth/shipyard/yf1822.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191025010821/http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/portsmouth/shipyard/yf1822.html | archive-date = 25 October 2019 }}</ref> Secretary of the Navy [[Smith Thompson]] had assigned the squadron to guard United States merchant shipping and suppress piracy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy - 1823 |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/a/secnav-reports/1823.html |access-date=2022-04-25 |website=NHHC |language=en-US }}</ref> During their time on deployment from 26 May to 3 August 1822, 76 of the ''Macedonian''{{'}}s officers and men died, including John Cadle, surgeon USN. Seventy-four of these deaths were attributed to yellow fever. Biddle reported that another 52 of his crew were on the sick list. In their report to the secretary of the Navy, Biddle and Surgeon's Mate Charles Chase stated the cause as "fever". As a consequence of this loss, Biddle noted that his squadron was forced to return to Norfolk Navy Yard early. Upon arrival, the ''Macedonian''{{'}}s crew were provided medical care and quarantined at [[Craney Island (Virginia)|Craney Island, Virginia]].<ref>{{cite journal | journal = Nara M125 | volume = 79 | id = letter no. 15 | title = Captains Letters | author = James Biddle to Smith Thompson | date = 3 August 1822 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = The Macedonian a list of the deaths | work = Connecticut Herald | date = 20 August 1822 | page = 2 }}</ref><ref name="Sharp The Disastrous Voyage"/>

In 1853, [[Cloutierville, Louisiana]], had a late-summer outbreak of yellow fever that quickly killed 68 of the 91 inhabitants. A local doctor concluded that some unspecified infectious agent had arrived in a package from New Orleans.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=The Transactions of the American Medical Association |volume=9 |date=1856 |page=704 |title=Yellow Fever at the Village of Cloutierville, La, in the Years 1853 and 1854 |first1=Samuel O. |last1=Scruggs }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=D' Antoni |first1=Blaise C. |title=Cloutierville Yellow Fever Deaths, 1853 |journal=New Orleans Genesis |volume=9 |issue=35 |date=June 1970 |pages=261–262 }}</ref> In 1854, 650 residents of [[Savannah, Georgia]], died from yellow fever.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lockley T  |title='Like a clap of thunder in a clear sky': differential mortality during Savannah's yellow fever epidemic of 1854 |journal=Social History |date=2012 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=166–186 |doi=10.1080/03071022.2012.675657 |url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/49566/1/WRAP_Lockley_9670721-hi-160114-like_a_clap_of_thunder_in_a_clear_sky.pdf }}</ref> In 1858, [[St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], had 308 yellow fever deaths, reducing the congregation by half.<ref>St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church: 125 Years of Christian Service, 1967.</ref> A ship carrying persons infected with the virus arrived in [[Hampton Roads]] in southeastern [[Virginia]] in June 1855.<ref name="Virginia">{{cite web |url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/fever-browse?id=N2659002 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212204518/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/fever-browse?id=N2659002 |archive-date=2012-12-12 |title=Mosquito control ends fatal plague of yellow fever |access-date=2007-06-11 | vauthors = Mauer HB |publisher=etext.lib.virginia.edu }} (undated newspaper clipping).</ref> The disease spread quickly through the community, eventually killing over 3,000 people, mostly residents of [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]] and [[Portsmouth, Virginia|Portsmouth]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Yellow Fever |url=http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/yellow-fever/yftoc.html |website=www.usgwarchives.net |access-date=30 September 2019}}</ref> In 1873, Shreveport, Louisiana, lost 759 citizens in an 80-day period to a yellow fever epidemic, with over 400 additional victims eventually succumbing. The total death toll from August through November was approximately 1,200.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ldh.la.gov/assets/oph/Center-PHCH/Center-CH/infectious-epi/Annuals/LaIDAnnual_YellowFever.pdf|title=Louisiana Office of Public Health Statistics, page 6|access-date=28 September 2018|archive-date=4 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204032113/http://ldh.la.gov/assets/oph/Center-PHCH/Center-CH/infectious-epi/Annuals/LaIDAnnual_YellowFever.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oaklandcemeteryla.org/Tour/Tour-Stop-1.aspx|title=Tour Stop 1 - Yellow Fever Victims - Tour - Oakland Cemetery - Shreveport - Louisiana - Founded 1847|website=www.oaklandcemeteryla.org|access-date=2018-09-28|archive-date=2018-09-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928202518/http://www.oaklandcemeteryla.org/Tour/Tour-Stop-1.aspx}}</ref>

In 1878, about 20,000 people died in a widespread [[Lower Mississippi Valley yellow fever epidemic of 1878|epidemic in the Mississippi River Valley]].<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Crosby MC |title=The American Plague |year=2006 |publisher=Berkley Publishing Group |location=New York |page=75}}</ref> That year, Memphis had an unusually large amount of rain, which led to an increase in the mosquito population. The result was a huge epidemic of yellow fever.<ref>{{cite web |title=Yellow Fever — the plague of Memphis |url=http://historic-memphis.com/memphis-historic/yellow-fever/yellow-fever.html |publisher=HistoricMemphis.com |access-date=August 20, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821093209/http://historic-memphis.com/memphis-historic/yellow-fever/yellow-fever.html |archive-date=August 21, 2014}}</ref> The steamship John D. Porter took people fleeing Memphis northward in hopes of escaping the disease, but passengers were not allowed to disembark due to concerns of spreading yellow fever. The ship roamed the Mississippi River for the next two months before unloading her passengers.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Barnes E |year=2005 |title=Diseases and Human Evolution |url=https://archive.org/details/diseaseshumanevo0000barn |url-access=registration |location=Albuquerque |publisher=University of New Mexico |isbn=978-0-8263-3065-9 }}</ref>

Major outbreaks have also occurred in southern Europe. [[Gibraltar]] lost many lives to outbreaks in 1804, 1814, and 1828.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Sawchuk LA, Burke SD | title = Gibraltar's 1804 yellow fever scourge: the search for scapegoats | journal = Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences | volume = 53 | issue = 1 | pages = 3–42 | date = January 1998 | pmid = 9510598 | doi = 10.1093/jhmas/53.1.3 }}</ref> [[Barcelona]] suffered the loss of several thousand citizens during an outbreak in 1821. The [[Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu|Duke de Richelieu]] deployed 30,000 French troops to the border between [[France]] and [[Spain]] in the [[Pyrenees Mountains]], to establish a ''[[Cordon sanitaire (medicine)|cordon sanitaire]]'' to prevent the epidemic from spreading from Spain into France.<ref name = "Taylor">James Taylor, ''The age we live in: a history of the nineteenth century,'' Oxford University, 1882; p. 222.</ref>