Yellow Fever: A Deadly Disease Poised to Kill Again

by James L. Dickerson

Yellow fever is unlikely to be found on a list of potential health threats facing Americans today. Most people, if they have heard of the disease at all, would consider it a historical curiosity from a bygone era. In this fascinating study of a once-terrifying pandemic, author James L. Dickerson makes it clear that the disease could reemerge with deadly virulence.
In a vividly told narrative, filled with poignant and graphic scenes culled from historical archives, Dickerson recounts the history of one of the most feared diseases in the United States. From the late 18th to the early 20th century, yellow fever killed Americans by the tens of thousands in the Northeast and throughout the South. In Memphis alone, five thousand people died in 1878.
Dickerson describes how public health officials gradually eliminated the disease from this country, so that by the mid 1950s it had ceased to be of much concern to the public at large. However, to this day no cure has been found. As a mosquito-borne viral infection, yellow fever is impervious to antibiotics, and it continues to wreak havoc in parts of South America and Africa.
Focusing on the present, Dickerson discusses the potential threat of yellow fever as a biological warfare agent in the hands of terrorists. Also of concern to public health researchers is the effect of global warming on mosquito populations. Even a one-to-two degree warming enables disease-bearing mosquitoes to move into areas once protected by colder weather. He concludes with a discussion of current precautionary efforts based on interviews with experts and analysis of available studies.
Both absorbing history and a timely wake-up call for the present, Yellow Fever is fascinating and important reading.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science

271 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 2006

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazed, informed, astounded. How many adjectives can I use to describe my 10* rating? I'm still shaking my head over all the historical information in this slim book about Yellow Fever. I highly recommend this book for the historical background. It's a common phrase 'taken to Bellevue' the one I most remember is 'taken to Walter Reed' and now I understand the life & times of Walter Reed, how this famous facility got its name.

There was much in this book about historical events that really bothered me even though I've heard something of them over the years. Dickerson has included it in such a manner that one is taught history without realizing it. The superiority of white European influence infected America from the very beginning. To learn that Amherst College is named after a miserable, nasty man responsible determined to wipe out the Native American people with Smallpox just sent me nuts. The manner America has abused black Americans from the time of Emancipation is sickening to me. It's always the black troops sent to do the filthy cleanup, nurse the infected, bury the dead - I believe that 90% of Americans have no clue and don't care. What a sad comment on our 'humanity.' Read this book.

[Aiman Adlawan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the by far one most shocking epidemic stories I have read. Its tells the story of the unknown yet deadly virus that swarms across the country every spring season all the way to summer and ends on fall season. The epidemic had been going on for over eighty years killing thousands of lives each year. Nobody knew what the cause was. They only believe that it came from the african slaves brought to the country. Dr. Dorsac has his theory that it came from mosquitoes. Dr. Finlay and Dr. Miller made a thorough experiment and proved Dr. Dorsac was right.
The story is very interesting. It also tells about how filthy the streets looks like when the outbreak comes out. How the african slaves took advantage of burying the dead bodies just to make money. And a lot more. Great Book.

[Dorothy Brown-Richman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative book. Yellow fever can become part of our reality quite easily.
I borrowed this book from my local library. Image my horror when I got to page 248 and discovered page 249-250 missing. It’s only the next to last page. Someone clearly ripped the page out. Does this mean I didn’t finish the book? I’m going to tell the library and see if there is another copy available.

[Mary Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although it contained some useful background information, the book was not particularly well-written and it seemed to be as much a vehicle to espouse the author's political views as anything. He paints with a broad brush with his assertion that white Mississipians had a plantation view in the early 20th century that has "continued into modern times, perpetuating the belief that the Republican Party is the portal through which the Bill of Rights can be suspended and relations with England restored to the 'good old days' that preceded the American Revolution." While I agree with the possibility of yellow fever being weaponized, the author didn't make a convincing argument that it is any more likely than any number of other terrorist possibilities. Overall, the book was a disappointment.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some strengths and weaknesses compared to other books I've read on the topic. I enjoyed Dickerson's description of the history of Yellow fever as a biological weapon. His account of the Mississippi and New Orleans outbreaks were also well written. However, he tended to use his research as a platform for his political views, and his chapters on prevention didn't mesh well with his history. He ignored a great deal of information on the outbreak of 1793 in Philadelphia, despite an exceedingly long chapter length.

[Pancha]

This book was just so much not what I thought it was going to be that I gave up. Now I just have to figure out which yellow fever book I read a sample of...

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informational book about the disease (yellow fever), which a main focus on the epidemics that occurred in the United States.