Yellow Fever: A Deadly Disease Poised to Kill Again

I read Yellow Fever by James Dickerson for my college microbiology class. Dickerson made it very interesting and intriguing to learn about the deadly disease. He linked it with current events, such as global warming and todays population and climates. I loved correlating historical events I learned growing up with the epidemics of yellow fever. For example, Amherst, Massachusetts was named for Lord Jeffrey Amherst, whom had blankets sent to America from small pox hospitals to infect Native Americans. Yellow fever is quite unique in that after how far technology and science has come that there still in no cure or specific treatment for the disease. In the back of the book tells you ways of how to look for yellow fever symptoms, what you should know about the vaccine and how to protect yourself.

If you are a student of U.S. history then you have likely read about the impact that yellow fever has had on our nation. Most notably, a major outbreak of the disease occured in the summer of 1793 in the city of Philadelphia, then our nation's capitol. When all was said and done more than 4000 of the Philadelphia's 28,000 residents lost their lives. Most of Congress and even President George Washington were forced to abandon the city. Commerce practically ceased and the wheels of our fledging government ground to a halt. Those citizens who were fortunate enough to survive were indelibly scarred for life. In "Yellow Fever" author James Dickerson not only chronicles the events of that devasting summer in Philadelphia but also takes a look at how yellow fever outbreaks impacted a number of other major American cities during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This is compelling and eye-opening reading to be sure! I first became interested in the subject of yellow fever when I read the John R. Pierce and James V. Writer book "Yellow Jack" about a year ago. I wanted to know more. Dickerson's "Yellow Fever" offers the reader a fairly comprehensive history of why the United States government placed such a high priority on conquering yellow fever. Dickerson does not mince words when he describes the symptoms of this dreaded disease and offers an actual unedited autopsy report that describes in gruesome detail how yellow fever can ravage the body. "Yellow Fever" also introduces the reader to those dogged and courageous individuals who would be ultimately responsible for practically eradicating this disease including a Cuban doctor named Juan Carlos Finlay, the U.S. Surgeon General George Miller Sternberg and of course the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Board, a four man panel led by Major Walter Reed. What worries James Dickerson and legions of doctors and scientists all over the world is the prospect that global warming will lead to a resurgance of tropical diseases such as yellow fever. This is a prospect we in North America are ill prepared for. But is this a threat we should take seriously? It seems to me that we should. Over the past decade there have been increasing incidents of mosquito induced tropical diseases such as West Nile virus, encephalitis and even malaria reported in all but a handful of states throughout the country. "Yellow Fever" presents still more convincing evidence that the U.S government should finally take the issue of global warming seriously and pursue laws and policies that will reduce our emission of greenhouse gases. It constantly amazes me how many of my friends and relatives completely dismiss the idea of global warming. How much more evidence do they need? An interesting and well written book. Highly recommended.

YELLOW FEVER: A DEADLY DISEASE POISED TO KILL AGAIN poses a wake-up call in providing not just a history of a bygone threat, but discussion of how it's a prime candidate for use as a biological weapon - and prime for re-emergence in the face of global warming. These two threats alone make YELLOW FEVER more than just a survey of the past, providing it an immediacy and importance which justifies the author's focus. A vivid narrative traces its emergence and impact from the late 18th to the early 20th century, describing attempts to contain and eliminate the disease and adding important chapters which consider how it can be used by terrorists today - and how it might come back on its own. A 'must' for any serious public or school library health collection. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch