Epidemics in Colonial America

John Duffy, a true historian, contri scarcelyed immensely to the history of medicine by publishing his research in the form of his first day entertain Epidemics in Colonial America. Duffy continued to write other books as well nonwithstanding this particular angiotensin converting enzyme stood as a landmark in his career, facilitating all those interested in the field of medicine. In writing this book, Duffys main(a) goal was to clarify epidemic complaints in order of importance and expose their direct and indirect effects on colonial development.He showed how the health environment is important for economic outcomes and that in that location is a direct effect of health conditions on income and an indirect effect on institutions. There is clearly no hidden goal or aim of the author and whatever he has intended to show is pretty apparent and understandable. His book is much on the lines of medical history/ economic fix and is more than descriptive and informative than theoretical.Epidemics in Colonial America provides, in detail, the history of illness epidemics in America and guides the reader d hotshot the age of epidemics to show how the outbreak of dissimilar distempers realised the development of colonial America. The book explains how epidemic diseases have been affected, and immorality verse, have affected the isolation of rural societies, changing economic conditions, wide-ranging manoeuver conditions and the factors determining poverty and wealth. BodyThe seventeenth century is identified as the period when epidemics were fairly limited in their impact as the interaction between the stack of different colonies was minimum and communities were more isolated than they would be in the future. As a result any disease would go along localized to the people of a particular community and not fabricate an epidemic. However, the situation progressively changed by the end of the eighteenth century when there was more commercialized act ivity/economy. The increased mobility and urbanization led to a greater threat of epidemics sprinkle heading from the rural areas.The situation obviously change state by the end of the nineteenth century as mobility was further modify and there was increased urbanization. The scant(p) urban centers began experiencing high death judge from diseases like cholera, tuberculosis etc that were endemic in cities like bare-assed York, Boston, Philadelphia and brand-new Orleans. Yellow febrility, Small lues venerea, malaria, hookworm infection, beri-beri, Typhoid and Dysentry, and Idiocy are amongst the epidemic diseases in colonial America. The detail of each, along with its effects has been given in the book.The impact of the mosquito borne diseases, Yellow fever and malaria, was greater on the colonists of Jamestown as compared to that in New England. Yellow Fever came from Barbados and spread in Philadelphia and New York, and later on in Boston. Thousands of people pretermit vi ctim to the disease and several left(a) discompose areas. As is the case with other epidemics, business activity came to a standstill, unemployment rose along with the death rate. People who chose to stay in the afflicted areas had to take severe precautionary measures, but to little effect.They would shut themselves in their homes and keep the sick isolated from the rest in mosquito nets. The period of the disease is almost one week, by the end of which the person either dies or recovers and becomes immune to it. However, the instances of recoin truth were little and as history tells us, several hours of work had to be put in just to bury the loose. The Yellow Fever epidemic in 1793 killed around 5,000 people in Philadelphia, which is approximately 10% of its population.Moving on, Small Pox was introduced in America by the European colonists and effected the native Americans the most as they had little immunity to the disease be cause of having very little or no exposure to it. The entire native American population was swept off by the disease and as Duffy quotes a letter by a South Carolina resident in his book which severalises that Small Pox swept away a whole coterminous Indian nation, all to 5 or 6 which ran away and left their dead unburied. In the book, Duffy also describes it by saying that the epidemic in 1738 killed one half of the Cherokee Indians near Charleston.The effect of such an epidemic was reduced fortress to western expansion in the U. S. In another reported incident, close to U. S Army men distributed blankets that had been used by smallpox and morbilli victims, to Indian tribes that also immediately fell prey to the diseases. The small pox epidemic was this disastrous because of its highly contagious nature and the fact that it spreads through even minimum pitying contact. It can choke the nostrils and also cause blindness. Prevention efforts were made by colonists who tried using isolation and inoculation, a controversial proced ure introduced in Boston in 1721.The patient was injected with a mild form of the disease for a short while to ca-ca immunity and antibodies to counter the virus. As a result, a person would pop out the disease for a shorter while as compared to if they had gotten the disease naturally. A more crude form of this procedure was practice sessiond by the African Americans and was called variolation. The practice consisted of transferring the pus or the scabs from the wounds of the already-affected people and injecting them in the open wounds of unaffected people in order to create immunity.Malaria was also one of the epidemics in the U. S. It became one of the significant diseases of the colonial times as it spread from Maryland to Alabama, Georgia, bit and Mexico. The mosquito parasite began spreading faster a s virgin estate was introduced in Carolina and the Blacks were available as victims for the mosquitoes. The parasite then gradually spread to the whites and eventually beca me an epidemic. The hookworm disease infection was another one of the diseases, starting from Florida and Louisiana.The Hookworm parasite spread through the moist soils from Virginia and just like Malaria, the primaeval American slaves were its carriers. The Beri-Beri disease, a simple deficiency of vitamin B, on the other roll was curable to a great extent. One of the most widely spread diseases, Tuberculosis, remained a highlight of the nineteenth century as it became very putting surface amongst the people of rural areas and also the poor people of urban areas. Its airborne nature accounted for the high number of people who were affected by the disease and it took several decades for doctors to come up with a counter to this disease.Duffys book mentions other diseases and their effects on America as well but the ones mentioned above were the most significant ones. They hold great importance in maki9ng the present what it is today as they left a lot for the human race to learn from in terms of medical advances. Conclusion The outbreaks of epidemics not only affected the western expansion but also halted the performance of many cities in America. People were unwilling to work at the attempt of their health and lives and therefore businesses and industries collapsed as unemployment rose.The economy fell and people best-loved staying indoors to protect themselves. Education, industry, economy, agriculture and every other structure fell prey to the epidemics that hit the U. S. Local outbreaks became epidemics of a national nature as the transport systems developed and coastal trade began. The nineteenth century cut water and airborne diseases spreading throughout the U. S as poor sewage systems, dirty drinking water and poor food smell etc added to the spread. Eventually, the life expectancy of an average American greatly fell.On a more ordained note, these epidemics had a great lesson to teach as far as the knowledge of medicine is concerned. It dish u ped modern medicine develop into what it is today and facilitated doctors traffic with patients suffering from similar diseases to a great extent. Even though these disease were thought as a punishment for the sins that had been committed by the people, its positive aspect should not be ignored. Epidemics in Colonial America is a significant addition to the literature of medicine and the efforts of John Duffy should be accept for the immense help that they are.Duffy has remained successful in his attempts of creating awareness regarding the diseases that have strike colonial America in the past and has effectively shown their effects on the people, their incomes, the environment and the development of the United States. The details in the book help paint a fairly adequate picture of the colonial years and make it easy for one to imagine the magnitude of the diseases that occurred. Therefore, it is safe to say that Duffy succeeded in his efforts and should be remembered for them.R eferenceDuffy, John. Epidemics in Colonial America. Baton make up Louisiana State University Press, 1953.