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Yellow fever

1,219 bytes added, 22:44, 24 September 2008
added information about 1867 and 1874 epidemics
*[[1853]]
*[[1867]]
The epidemic of 1867 struck despite efforts to quarantine ships upon their arrival in Pensacola.Crewmen arriving on ships from locations where yellow fever was active, such as Jamaica and New Orleans, fell ill after their ships had been released from quarantine. The disease spread to Pensacola, Warrington, and Woolsey. Most of the marines at the Navy Yard came down with the disease. Most of the healthy people in Pensacola fled the city. John Brackett<ref>Brackett, John Matthew. [http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04102005-230201/ "'The Naples of America,' Pensacola during the Civil War and Reconstruction"]. Master of Arts thesis, Florida State University</ref>estimates that between 150 and 200 persons died of yellow fever in the Pensacola area; many more fell ill but recovered.
*[[1873]]
*[[1874]]
The 1874 epidemic claimed thousands of lives.
 
Commodore Melanchton B. Woolsey, commandant of the Navy Yard, correctly believed that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes, some years before this was demonstrated scientifically. "He erroneously believed, as others did also, that disease carrying mosquitoes could only fly a few feet high. So Woolsey moved into the third-story cupola. He got his meals, rum (which he claimed was a 'tonic' against the fever) and tobacco for his pipe by lowering a basket on a rope from one of the cupola's windows. One day his servant forgot the rum! Woolsey died soon thereafter."<ref>[http://benefits.military.com/misc/installations/Base_Content.jsp?id=1080 "Military.com Installation Guide"]</ref>
*[[1882]]
*[[1888]]
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