Plague Among the Magnolias

The 1878 Yellow Fever Epidemic in Mississippi

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Plague Among the Magnolias by Deanne Nuwer Stephens, University of Alabama Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Deanne Nuwer Stephens ISBN: 9780817382445
Publisher: University of Alabama Press Publication: September 30, 2015
Imprint: University Alabama Press Language: English
Author: Deanne Nuwer Stephens
ISBN: 9780817382445
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Publication: September 30, 2015
Imprint: University Alabama Press
Language: English

Deanne Stephens Nuwer explores the social, political, racial, and economic consequences of the 1878 yellow fever epidemic in Mississippi. A mild winter, a long spring, and a torrid summer produced conditions favoring the Aedes aegypti and spread of fever. In late July New Orleans newspapers reported the epidemic and upriver officials established checkpoints, but efforts at quarantine came too late. Yellow fever was developing by late July, and in August deaths were reported. With a fresh memory of an 1873 epidemic, thousands fled, some carrying the disease with them. The fever raged until mid-October, killing many: in Mississippi 28 percent of yellow fever victims died. Thought to be immune to the disease, blacks also contracted the fever in large numbers, although only 7 percent died. There is no consensus explaining the disparity, although it is possible that exposure to yellow fever in Africa provided blacks with inherited resistance.

 

Those fleeing the plague encountered quarantines throughout the South. Some were successful in keeping the disease from spreading, but most efforts failed. These hit hardest were towns along the railroads leading from the river, many of which experienced staggering losses.

 

Yellow fever’s impact, however, was not all negative. Many communities began sanitation reforms, and yellow fever did not again strike in epidemic proportions. Sewer systems and better water supply did wonders for public health in preventing cholera, dysentery, and other water-borne diseases. Mississippi also undertook an infrastructure leading to acceptance of national health care efforts: not an easy step for a militantly states' rights and racially reactionary society.

 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Deanne Stephens Nuwer explores the social, political, racial, and economic consequences of the 1878 yellow fever epidemic in Mississippi. A mild winter, a long spring, and a torrid summer produced conditions favoring the Aedes aegypti and spread of fever. In late July New Orleans newspapers reported the epidemic and upriver officials established checkpoints, but efforts at quarantine came too late. Yellow fever was developing by late July, and in August deaths were reported. With a fresh memory of an 1873 epidemic, thousands fled, some carrying the disease with them. The fever raged until mid-October, killing many: in Mississippi 28 percent of yellow fever victims died. Thought to be immune to the disease, blacks also contracted the fever in large numbers, although only 7 percent died. There is no consensus explaining the disparity, although it is possible that exposure to yellow fever in Africa provided blacks with inherited resistance.

 

Those fleeing the plague encountered quarantines throughout the South. Some were successful in keeping the disease from spreading, but most efforts failed. These hit hardest were towns along the railroads leading from the river, many of which experienced staggering losses.

 

Yellow fever’s impact, however, was not all negative. Many communities began sanitation reforms, and yellow fever did not again strike in epidemic proportions. Sewer systems and better water supply did wonders for public health in preventing cholera, dysentery, and other water-borne diseases. Mississippi also undertook an infrastructure leading to acceptance of national health care efforts: not an easy step for a militantly states' rights and racially reactionary society.

 

More books from University of Alabama Press

Cover of the book The Origins of Agriculture by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book The Presidency and Public Policy by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book SunWatch by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book Walt Whitman and Nineteenth-Century Women Reformers by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book Our Sisters' Keepers by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book Native American Legends of the Southeast by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book The Environment for Aging by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book Arthouse by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book Stepping Into Zion by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book Choctaw Prophecy by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book Rhetorical Education In America by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book G Company's War by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book Flowing Through Time by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book A World Engraved by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
Cover of the book Bluejackets in the Blubber Room by Deanne Nuwer Stephens
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy