Just finished reading Cloud Atlas in advance of the movie coming out. Anyone else out there read this one? Just wondering what anyone else thought about it?
I just finished a book about Yellow Fever; The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped our History, by Molly Caldwell Crosby. Interesting, if not frightening read. I did not know that even ONE case of Yellow fever in the US is considered an epidemic, and it is one of the reportable diseases. It can have up to a 80% mortality rate, and came to the US as a result of the slave trade, reinforced with each ship bringing slaves, and mosquitoes, and the infected with every trip. As the Northern states stopped importing slaves to their shores, Yellow Fever also disappeared. The biggest epidemic occurred in 1878 as the result of African trade, and of the 19,000 people (of the 43,000 living there- only the poor and invalid stayed after the epidemic started and those fleeing were hardly welcome elsewhere) remaining in Memphis, Tennessee, 17,000 came down with the disease. The epidemic started when a shipmaster lied about having sick crew on board because he wanted to deliver his perishable goods so he could get paid.
Our area experienced an outbreak in that same year, 1878 when a steamboat loaded with contaminated passengers from New Orleans broke a rod that drove the paddle wheel. They asked to bury the dead on shore and the disease spread through the town ( Gallipolis) 40 minuters upriver from us. The fever killed over 30 and spread down river killing residents here. We rented an old house here once and found an abandoned cemetery well behind it with several graves. Everyone of them had died that same year of yellow fever. Thank Walter Reed and Josiah Goethals for finding a cure! And Asanta, this may sound stupid, I’ve never researched it but is it possible for the virus to reactivate if the corpse is exhumed?
Yellow fever can not be transmitted person to person. It can only be transmitted by the bite of a mosquito. Mosquitos will not bite dead bodies since there is no flowing blood and as such even if the virus was still present in the body of someone who died from Yellow Fever there would be no way to transmit the virus to another person.
To clarify, there is no treatment or cure for yellow fever. Only supportive therapy ( IV fluids etc.). Fortunately there isa vaccine available but we only use it when people are traveling to areas of the world where the disease is endemic.
I’ve read a ways into The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. While I suppose you have to take in the fact that he is writing about himself into consideration, he comes across as a very intelligent, decent, observant man with a subtle sense of humor. It is really interesting to see that period of history through the eyes of one of the most important characters of the time.
I’ve read a ways into The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. While I suppose you have to take in the fact that he is writing about himself into consideration, he comes across as a very intelligent, decent, observant man with a subtle sense of humor. It is really interesting to see that period of history through the eyes of one of the most important characters of the time.
If you’re still interested after reading his memoirs (heavily edited by Mark Twain) get a copy of “I Rode With Grant” by a reporter and friend of his, Sylvanis Cadwallader(ck. spelling. This is off the top of my head). It really reveals his personality and drive.
Sorry Jeciron, the title is “Three years with Grant”. I confused the title with another bio on George Armstrong Custer, which BTW is also a good read if you are interested in the Indian wars.
Our area experienced an outbreak in that same year, 1878 when a steamboat loaded with contaminated passengers from New Orleans broke a rod that drove the paddle wheel. They asked to bury the dead on shore and the disease spread through the town ( Gallipolis) 40 minuters upriver from us. The fever killed over 30 and spread down river killing residents here. We rented an old house here once and found an abandoned cemetery well behind it with several graves. Everyone of them had died that same year of yellow fever. Thank Walter Reed and Josiah Goethals for finding a cure! And Asanta, this may sound stupid, I’ve never researched it but is it possible for the virus to reactivate if the corpse is exhumed?
New Orleans got off easy. The Emily B. Souder arrived there in late May. One ill sailor, diagnosed with malaria, was removed from the ship. The ship was fumigated and cleared to dock in New Orleans. The night the ship docked, a crew member fell sick and died; another died four days later. When the Souder left to return to Havana, another ship, the Charles B. Woods arrived. Within six weeks every member of the families of the Woods’ captain and engineer had contracted fever. The Memphis epidemic took more lives than the Chicago fire, the San Francisco earthquake and the Johnstown flood combined, according to the author, Molly Caldwell Crosby. I can’t remember which of these two ships made it up to Memphis, but the epidemic arrived when a sick crewmember escaped the ship onto the shore and went into a restaurant. It happened to be a wet year and a bumper mosquito year, coupled with a virulent Yellow Fever strain in a city with no sewer system. The proverbial ‘perfect storm’.
Yellow fever can not be transmitted person to person. It can only be transmitted by the bite of a mosquito. Mosquitos will not bite dead bodies since there is no flowing blood and as such even if the virus was still present in the body of someone who died from Yellow Fever there would be no way to transmit the virus to another person.
To clarify, there is no treatment or cure for yellow fever. Only supportive therapy ( IV fluids etc.). Fortunately there is a vaccine available but we only use it when people are traveling to areas of the world where the disease is endemic.
There is at least one documented case of person to person contact where one person with an open wound was exposed to the blood of a person with Yellow Fever. Because we see it so infrequently here, it is usually misdiagnosed until the person dies. There have been a couple recent of cases in Texas of people who traveled in the Amazon. It was a very good book about a very scary disease…more so in light of our changing (becoming more mosquito friendly) climate.
To “Game of Throne” fans, I just finished all 5 of the currently available books in the series. Unfortunately, it looks like G.R.R. Martin has at least 2 more books in mind for the series and the next won’t be completed until probably 2015.
I WAS reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but I can’t seem to find my damn Kindle. The more I read the book the more I realize just how horrible the 1931 James Whale’s version really is.
I WAS reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but I can’t seem to find my damn Kindle. The more I read the book the more I realize just how horrible the 1931 James Whale’s version really is.
If you want to further than that Em, try “Frankenstein, A Cultural History”. It includes the background of the book and Mary Shelly plus the whole genre that spun off it including the early and current movies. It’s an entertaining read by Susan Hitchcock. Even discusses the science behind the take and how it inspired her to write the book.
The Emily B. Souder arrived there in late May. One ill sailor, diagnosed with malaria, was removed from the ship. The ship was fumigated and cleared to dock in New Orleans. The night the ship docked, a crew member fell sick and died; another died four days later. When the Souder left to return to Havana, another ship, the Charles B. Woods arrived. Within six weeks every member of the families of the Woods’ captain and engineer had contracted fever. The Memphis epidemic took more lives than the Chicago fire, the San Francisco earthquake and the Johnstown flood combined, according to the author, Molly Caldwell Crosby. I can’t remember which of these two ships made it up to Memphis, but the epidemic arrived when a sick crewmember escaped the ship onto the shore and went into a restaurant. It happened to be a wet year and a bumper mosquito year, coupled with a virulent Yellow Fever strain in a city with no sewer system. The proverbial ‘perfect storm’.
