Report upon yellow fever in Louisiana in 1878 and subsequently / by S.M. Bemiss.

  • Bemiss, S. M. (Samuel Merrifield), 1821-1884.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report upon yellow fever in Louisiana in 1878 and subsequently / by S.M. Bemiss. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    June. Perhaps the best authenticated of these is tlie case of Mrs. Wasson, at No. 122 Constance. Some three or four other cases have been reported to the writer, one of them dated as early as June 17th, but as they have not been satisfactorily proven to be cases of yellow fever, they are not included in this historical summary. It is, however, proper to be mentioned, that on the iith July, I was called to see a child residing at No. 155 Con- stance, who had been attacked on the 7th of the month with a chill, followed by fever, was out on the street on the 8th and sick again on the 9th. On the iith I was called to see him, and found, not only from the history, but from the curative influence of quinine, a case of malarial intoxi- cation. On the 13th, the child became worse, his fever being persistent, and no longer influenced by quinine. On the i8th, hemorrhage, black vomit and death occurred, convulsions attending the last hovu-s. At that time no case of yellow fever was supposed by the family or myself to have existed in the neighborhood of the patient. But simultaneously with the occurrence of this case, the locality became so intensely infected, that no possible doubt can exist in regard to the agency of preceding cases in bring- ing about this condition. But there is indubitable testimony to show tluit se\'eral yellow fever foci existed in New Orleans at date of July 15th to 20th. It would appear, however, tliat little was known of these facts by the Board of Health, and still less among the busy marts of commerce of the cit}^ The following extract from an editorial in the Times of July 22d shows the amount of information possessed by one of the daily journals of the city at that date : Never was our city more healthy than at present. There is neither yellow fever, nor even severe malarial fevers here. The fevers which do exist are such as may be found everywhere at this season, and yield readily to treatment. The heat has not been as intense, here as in hundreds of other localities further north, and cases of death from that cause are so infrequent that their occur-