Philadephia, PA 1793

Where is Philadelphia?

What did the city look like in 1793?

Philadelphia The Revolutionary War lasted from 1776-1783. After the war ended, colonies became states and the US grew quickly. Philadelphia was the country’s capital, largest city and it had the busiest port. Philadelphia became wealthy through trading and ship building.

How did yellow fever arrive? The spring of 1793 was very wet and left behind swamps and pools of water. By summer, there were many flies and mosquitoes around the city’s docks. At the same time, people were arriving from the Caribbean into Philadelphia. Some of the people from the Caribbean carried the yellow fever virus but weren’t sick because they had immunity to the disease.

How did the disease spread? Yellow fever spread when a mosquito bit a person from the Caribbean and the same mosquito later bit a Philadelphia resident. The symptoms of yellow fever are aches, high fever, yellow skin, vomiting and, sometimes, death. Philadelphia had 50,000 people and 25,000 left to escape the disease. By the end of the summer, 5,000 citizens of the city had died.

Medicine in the 1700’s Doctors didn’t know about viruses and didn’t know that insects carried disease Dr. Benjamin Rush gave patients mercury to make them throw up and he drained their blood. His patients got worse and many did not live. Dr. Jean Deveze recommended rest, fresh air and lots of fluids. His patients survived at a much higher rate.

What happened afterward? After the epidemic (quick spread of infectious disease) in Philadelphia, the city set up a health office. By 1799, Philadelphia set up a quarantine hospital for immigrants at the port. Fast forward 100 years…. In 1902, Dr. Walter Reed discovered that mosquitoes spread disease. In 1930, a yellow fever vaccine was developed but the virus still kills people in parts of Africa and South America.