Benjamin Rush was an American physician. He was born in 1745 near Philadelphia and died in 1813. He was elected a member of Congress to support the American Declaration of Independence, which he signed, and in 1777 was appointed physician- general of the army. This appointment he resigned for a private practice in Philadelphia, where he distinguished himself by his successful treatment of an epidemic of yellow fever in 1793. From 1799 until his death he was treasurer of the United States mint. Research Benjamin Rush
Charles Brockden Brown was the first American professional writer. He was born in 1771 at Philadelphia and died in 1810. He was destined for the law, but the term intended for preparatory legal study was principally occupied with literary pursuits. His novel Wieland, or the Transformation, was published in 1798; Ormond, or the Secret Witness, in 1799; and Arthur Mervyn in 1800. In the last-named work the ravages of the yellow fever, which the author had witnessed in New York and Philadelphia, are painted with terrific truth. He was originator of the Monthly Magazine and American Review (1799-1800). He also founded in 1805 the Literary Magazine and American Register, which he edited for five years. Among his other works are ClaraHoward (1801) and Jane Talbot (1804). Research Charles Brown
Clara Mass was an American nurse. She was born in 1876 at East Orange, New Jersey and died in 1901 at Havana, Cuba of yellow fever. She was the only woman and the only American to die during the yellow fever experiments of 1900 to 1901. After graduating from the Newark German Hospital School of Nursing in 1895 she volunteered to serve as a contract nurse with the U.S. Army Medical Department at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war of 1898. During her first term of service she worked at army camps in Florida, Georgia, and Cuba. She volunteered again in 1900 and was sent first to the Philippines and then back to Cuba, where at the Las AnimasHospital in Havana, she volunteered to take part in an experiment conducted by Major William C Gorgas and John Guiteras on yellow fever immunization. The experiment involved her being infected with the disease, from which she promptly died ten days later. Research Clara Mass
Stephen Girard was a French-born American financier and philanthropist. He was born in 1750 at Bordeaux, France and died in 1831. At the age of fourteen he went to sea as a cabin boy and at the age of twenty-four was a ship's captain working in the American coastal trade. In 1776 he settled in Philadelphia and worked in foreign trade, before in 1793 with the yellow fever plague he volunteered to act as manager of the hospital and in the 1797 epidemic again took the lead in caring for the sick. During the War of 1812 he greatly aided the American Government by a loan of $5,000,000. Upon his death he bequeathed most of his estate to the city of Philadelphia to be used to construct a school or college for 'poor, white, male orphans' and for municipal improvements - thus was founded Girard College for orphans at Philadelphia. Research Stephen Girard
Yellow fever, popularly known as black vomit on account of the presence of blood in the vomit, is an acute destructive disease usually found in tropical regions and caused by a virus transmitted by an infected mosquito. The Togaviridae virus is carried by the Aedes mosquito and the disease affects the liver. The virus has an incubation period of three to eight days. Symptoms include fever, liver damage with accompanying jaundice, and intestinal disorders. There is no cure available for yellow fever. Treatment consists of maintaining the blood volume and the intake of fluids and anticoagulant therapy. Transfusion of fluids is often necessary. In mild and moderate cases the patient recovers after a few days and few complications occur.
If contracted as a child, Yellow Fever results in a mild illness, however, among adults the mortality rate is about 5%. An attack of yellow fever confers lifelong immunity, and traditionally natives in Africa contracted the disease as children, suffered a short mild illness, recovered and were subsequently immune. However, European colonisation of Africa resulted in immunisation programmes which prevented children contracting the disease - though many died from encephalitis as a result of the immunisation - until as adults they became vulnerable, resulting in the 1965 Senegalese Yellow Fever epidemic that killed at least 140 people. Research Yellow Fever
Boston is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA at the head of the Massachusetts Bay, and the capital of Massachusetts. Modern Boston was founded on an old Indian settlement called Shawmut in 1630 by John Winthrop and his company, and is best known as the scene of the Boston Tea Party. The town of Boston was at one time known as Tremont, and became a city in 1822. In 1780 Boston was ravaged by yellow fever and in 1872 much of the business portion of the city was destroyed by fire.
Curacao is an island in of the Dutch West Indies in the Caribbean. Curacao is located 46 miles north of the coast of Venezuela. The island is 36 miles long and 8 miles broad. It is hilly, wild, and barren, with a hot dry climate. Throughout history the island has been plagued by Yellow fever every sixth or seventh year. The tamarind, cocoa-palm, banana, and other useful trees are reared - among them three varieties of orange, from one of which the Curacao liqueur is made. Sugar, tobacco, cochineal, and maize are also produced, but the staple exports are salt, and a valuable phosphate of lime used as a manure in its natural state, or made to yield valuable superphosphates. From the 16th century Curacao was held in succession by the Spaniards, Dutch, and British, and finally ceded to Holland at the general peace in 1814. Research Curacao
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