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Jan 1, 1492
The Evolutionary Origins of Yellow Fever
Phylogenetic analyses indicate that the virus originated from East or Central Africa, with transmission between primates and humans, and spread from there to West Africa.The virus as well as the vector Aedes aegypti, a mosquito species, were probably brought to the western hemisphere and the Americas by slave trade ships from Africa after the first European exploration in 1492. -
Yellow Fever in the American Colonies
Charleston and Philadelphia suffered the first confirmed yellow fever outbreaks in the American colonies. The death tolls in both cities were high, and life came nearly to a standstill. -
Yellow Fever Decimates Philadelphia
After 31 years of absence, yellow fever returned to Philadelphia, killing thousands of city residents over a span of several months. As the then-capital and largest city of the United States, Philadelphia was home to both local and federal governments, most of whose members (including President George Washington) fled to escape the disease. The total number of cases was estimated to be approximately 11,000; the final mortality rate for the city was 10%
<a href='http://www.historyofvaccines.org -
Philadelphia Lazaretto Is Built
Erected by the city of Philadelphia's Board of Health, the Philadelphia Lazaretto Quarantine Station on Tinicum Island was built largely in response to the city's 1793 yellow fever epidemic. The Lazaretto was designed to quarantine infected travelers headed for Philadelphia by ship. All passenger and cargo vessels bound for the city were required to dock at the Lazaretto for inspection. -
Haiti
In 1802–1803, an army of forty thousand sent by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte of France to Saint Domingue to suppress the revolution mounted by slaves, was decimated by an epidemic of yellow fever (among the casualties was the expedition's commander and Bonaparte's brother-in-law, Charles Leclerc). Website -
The New Orleans Epidimic
The 1853 outbreak claimed 7,849 residents of New Orleans. The press and the medical profession did not alert citizens of the outbreak until the middle of July, after more than one thousand people had already died. [Website](<a href='http://www.lafayettecemetery.org/yellowfever1853_page1)' >Website</a> -
Norfork, Virginia
A ship carrying persons infected with the virus arrived in Hampton Roads in southeastern Virginia in June 1855. The disease spread quickly through the community, eventually killing over 3,000 people, mostly residents of Norfolk and Portsmouth. -
Lower Mississippi Valley
The entire Mississippi River Valley from St. Louis south was affected, and tens of thousands fled the stricken cities of New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Memphis. An estimated 120,000 cases of yellow fever resulted in some 20,000 deaths. -
Carlos Finlay Identifies a Suspect
Carlos Finlay (1833-1915) presented the paper “The Mosquito Hypothetically Considered as the Transmitting Agent of Yellow Fever” to Havana’s Academy of Sciences—the first to correctly identify mosquitoes as the ultimate source of the disease. Finlay’s theory, however, was initially ridiculed. It was accepted only when U.S. Army scientists working under Walter Reed (1851-1902) demonstrated that it was correct—two decades later. -
U.S. Army Researchers Discover the Cause of Yellow Fever
The army proceeded to determine that the mosquitoes could transmit the disease only after a certain period of time had passed since they had fed on another human infected with it (in the range of 12-20 days) and that a victim bitten by an infected mosquito would typically fall ill within six days. -
North America Sees Last Yellow Fever Epidemic
The last yellow fever epidemic on the North American continent occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. -
Max Theiler Develops Yellow Fever Vaccine
Max Theiler and his colleagues developed a live attenuated vaccine for yellow fever using tissue cultures prepared from embryonated chicken eggs. Among the many subcultures of the yellow fever virus in the laboratory, the one designated “17D” was used, giving the vaccine its name. He published results of U.S. vaccine trials in humans in 1937. The vaccine was easily adapted for mass production and became the universal standard. -
Hepatitis Outbreak Prompts Improved Vaccine Safety Measures
VideoFollowing the use of particular lots of the 17D vaccine among U.S. Army troops, an epidemic of hepatitis appeared. Several deaths and thousands of cases of “yellow atrophy of the liver” (jaundice following yellow fever vaccination) resulted. Following this incident and a similar episode in Brazil, both of which likely resulted from contaminated human blood serum being used in the vaccine, human plasma was completely removed from the 17D vaccine. Meanwhile, the disease remained endemic in parts o -
Major U.S. Anti-Mosquito Measures Begin
A major effort to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquito from the United States began. A pilot program in Pensacola, Florida, helped to determine the method of approach, including spraying insecticide at Aedes aegypti breeding sites and removing containers that could hold standing water (to prevent further breeding). -
Yellow Fever Mosquito Reappears in South America
South America was re-infested with Aedes aegypti. This, along with increasing air travel, led to fears of the reemergence of yellow fever epidemics in the American continents.
