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Yellow Fever: A Deadly Disease Poised to Kill Again
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Home > Medical Books > Communicable Diseases > Item 37
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Yellow Fever: A Deadly Disease Poised to Kill Again
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by James L. Dickerson
Sales Rank: 679452
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List Price: $25.00
$25.00
At Amazon
on 9-8-2008
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Hardcover: 271 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books April 4, 2006
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1591023998
ISBN-13: 978-1591023999
Product Dimensions:
8.9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
If you're tired of worrying about avian flu, Dickerson's history could start you worrying about a recurrence of yellow fever, long eradicated from the U.S. This is a well-written history of the yellow fever epidemics that ravaged Philadelphia, New Orleans and other locales from the late 1700s through the 19th century. Dickerson (Mojo Triangle: Birthplace of Country, Blues, Jazz and Rock 'n' Roll) vividly describes the panic that spread through Philadelphia in 1793, when 4,000 people died from a disease of unknown origin marked by high fever, black vomiting and coma. As interesting as the medical tale are the social aspects, such as the role of the city's blacks, who believed they were immune to yellow fever, in treating its victims. It was not until 1881 that Juan Carlos Finlay, a Cuban doctor, correctly concluded that the disease was spread by infected mosquitoes. His work was validated by Dr. Walter Reed and others during the Spanish-American War of 1898 and paved the way for preventive measures. Dickerson suggests that yellow fever is a prime candidate for use as a biological weapon, and he considers disturbing evidence that global warming could bring a resurgence of the virus in North America. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
Yellow Fever is unlikely to be found on a list of potential health threats facing Americans today. Most people, if they have heard of the disease at all, would consider it a historical curiosity from a bygone era. In this fascinating study of a once-terrifying pandemic, author James L. Dickerson makes it clear that the disease could reemerge with deadly virulence. In a vividly told narrative, filled with poignant and graphic scenes culled from historical archives, Dickerson recounts the history of one of the most feared diseases in the United States. From the late 18th to the early 20th century, Yellow Fever killed Americans by the tens of thousands in the Northeast and throughout the South. In Memphis alone, five thousand people died in 1878.
Dickerson describes how public health officials gradually eliminated the disease from this country, so that by the mid 1950s it had ceased to be of much concern to the public at large. However, to this day no cure has been found. As a mosquito-borne viral infection, Yellow Fever is impervious to antibiotics, and it continues to wreak havoc in parts of South America and Africa.
Focusing on the present, Dickerson discusses the potential threat of Yellow Fever as a biological warfare agent in the hands of terrorists. Also of concern to public health researchers is the effect of global warming on mosquito populations. Even a one-to-two degree warming enables disease-bearing mosquitoes to move into areas once protected by colder weather. He concludes with a discussion of current precautionary efforts based on interviews with experts and analysis of available studies.
Both absorbing history and a timely wake-up call for the present, Yellow Fever is fascinating and important reading.
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Yellow Fever: A Deadly Disease Poised to Kill Again
Available from Amazon
Price: $25.00
Updated on 9-8-2008
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