Yellow Fever In Philadelphia

The summer of 1793 would be unforgettable for the people living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their population of more than 40,000 people would decline rapidly over the next few months, due to a deadly epidemic. As the summer came to an end the Yellow Fever would plague the city due to a filthy environment, lack of effective treatments, and misinformation.
As August began, the citizens of Philadelphia became violently ill with multiple symptoms including: chills, high fevers, nausea, vomiting, delusions, and extreme pain. However, there were a couple of symptoms that were unusual, such as, black vomit and a yellow coloring of the body. The yellow coloring of a body is due, “yellow fever severely damaging the liver, which brings on jaundice, a yellowing of the skin” (Flyover History, pg. 101). This epidemic raged through the streets of Philadelphia with no end in sight, many residents were instructed to leave by the lead physician, Dr. Benjamin Rush.
Dr. Rush believed the epidemic was caused by
Rush was the lead physician and altogether a very smart man, one person does not know the answer to everything. The town doctors believed the yellow fever was caused by something else, and could be treated a different way; however, Dr. Rush was not open to any opinions or ideas from anyone else. One person cannot save the world by themselves, it takes a team when life is threatened. In regards to preventing this in the future, most doctors now of days look for approval from other doctors before proceeding on life threating injuries, or diseases. Modern medicine has allowed professionals to correctly determine the cause of the yellow fever as well as many other diseases. This incident showed modern doctors how easily epidemics and diseases can be mistreated, it also shows them how to take precaution when dealing with an unknown illness. Hopefully in the future doctors and patients will not have to endure the pain and suffering of diseases like yellow