Pub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0003
M. Oldstone
This chapter discusses how the human immune system combats viruses, either by spontaneously eliminating infections or by becoming stimulated via vaccination to prevent viral diseases. The proteins in viruses and bacteria that trigger an immune response are called antigens or immunogens, and the result of a satisfactory immune response to these antigens is immunity—long-term protection from repeated disease caused by a specific type of virus or bacteria. Similarly, a vaccine primes the immune response by programming it to anticipate and resist future pathogens like those in that particular vaccine. The immune system has evolved to deal with enormous numbers and varieties of every conceivable foreign antigen. However, the immune system must discriminate between foreign antigens, such as viral proteins, that are non-self and those antigens that are self, one’s own proteins (i.e., hormones such as insulin and cell proteins that make up muscle or nerve cells). Ultimately, the success of this system defines an organism’s capacity for survival.
{"title":"Introduction to the Principles of Immunology","authors":"M. Oldstone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter discusses how the human immune system combats viruses, either by spontaneously eliminating infections or by becoming stimulated via vaccination to prevent viral diseases. The proteins in viruses and bacteria that trigger an immune response are called antigens or immunogens, and the result of a satisfactory immune response to these antigens is immunity—long-term protection from repeated disease caused by a specific type of virus or bacteria. Similarly, a vaccine primes the immune response by programming it to anticipate and resist future pathogens like those in that particular vaccine. The immune system has evolved to deal with enormous numbers and varieties of every conceivable foreign antigen. However, the immune system must discriminate between foreign antigens, such as viral proteins, that are non-self and those antigens that are self, one’s own proteins (i.e., hormones such as insulin and cell proteins that make up muscle or nerve cells). Ultimately, the success of this system defines an organism’s capacity for survival.","PeriodicalId":403735,"journal":{"name":"Viruses, Plagues, and History","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125151244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0018
M. Oldstone
This chapter focuses on the influenza virus. Even though the casualties, both military and civilian, were massive during World War I, deaths from the epidemic of influenza virus in 1918–1919 surpassed the war’s toll: some 40 to 50 million people died of influenza in less than a year. Although respiratory infection was a common companion of influenza during the 1918–1919 pandemic, pneumonia in young adults has been rare before and since. Over 80% of current and past deaths related to influenza have occurred in people over the age of 70, who most often die from secondary bacterial infections. Yet the risk is almost as great for patients of any age who suffer from chronic heart, lung, kidney, or liver disease; children with congenital abnormalities; or anyone undergoing transplant surgery or afflicted with AIDS. The last influenza pandemic recorded, the “swine flu” pandemic of 2009–2010, provided a scorecard of how far people have come in surveillance, epidemiology, vaccination, and treatments since the 1918–1919 pandemic and the four pandemics that followed.
{"title":"Influenza Virus, the Plague That Will Continue to Return","authors":"M. Oldstone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0018","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter focuses on the influenza virus. Even though the casualties, both military and civilian, were massive during World War I, deaths from the epidemic of influenza virus in 1918–1919 surpassed the war’s toll: some 40 to 50 million people died of influenza in less than a year. Although respiratory infection was a common companion of influenza during the 1918–1919 pandemic, pneumonia in young adults has been rare before and since. Over 80% of current and past deaths related to influenza have occurred in people over the age of 70, who most often die from secondary bacterial infections. Yet the risk is almost as great for patients of any age who suffer from chronic heart, lung, kidney, or liver disease; children with congenital abnormalities; or anyone undergoing transplant surgery or afflicted with AIDS. The last influenza pandemic recorded, the “swine flu” pandemic of 2009–2010, provided a scorecard of how far people have come in surveillance, epidemiology, vaccination, and treatments since the 1918–1919 pandemic and the four pandemics that followed.","PeriodicalId":403735,"journal":{"name":"Viruses, Plagues, and History","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129189527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0015
M. Oldstone
This chapter traces the history of the Zika virus. Viruses are usually messengers of bad news. The bad news emerging as a specialty of infection by Zika viruses and the harm they cause is the long-term disability of the most vulnerable populations: pregnant women and their babies. Zika virus is a member of the flavivirus group, whose fellow members are yellow fever and West Nile viruses; all three are transmitted by mosquitoes. Attacks by Zika virus and the disease it caused unexpectedly exploded in 2015–2016, mainly in Brazil and surrounding countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Zika was then transported to the United States. Zika infections recorded in the United States were linked primarily to airplane or ship travelers from the areas of Zika outbreaks. Adult males and females infected with Zika virus may develop an autoimmune disease termed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). GBS describes persons whose own immune system attacks their nerves (polyneuropathy), leading to symmetrical weakness of the extremities requiring hospitalization.
{"title":"Zika Comes to the Western Hemisphere and Americas: How, When, Consequences","authors":"M. Oldstone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0015","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter traces the history of the Zika virus. Viruses are usually messengers of bad news. The bad news emerging as a specialty of infection by Zika viruses and the harm they cause is the long-term disability of the most vulnerable populations: pregnant women and their babies. Zika virus is a member of the flavivirus group, whose fellow members are yellow fever and West Nile viruses; all three are transmitted by mosquitoes. Attacks by Zika virus and the disease it caused unexpectedly exploded in 2015–2016, mainly in Brazil and surrounding countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Zika was then transported to the United States. Zika infections recorded in the United States were linked primarily to airplane or ship travelers from the areas of Zika outbreaks. Adult males and females infected with Zika virus may develop an autoimmune disease termed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). GBS describes persons whose own immune system attacks their nerves (polyneuropathy), leading to symmetrical weakness of the extremities requiring hospitalization.","PeriodicalId":403735,"journal":{"name":"Viruses, Plagues, and History","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131195799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0020
M. Oldstone
This concluding chapter explains that as viruses like human immunodeficiency virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Zika, and West Nile evolve and emerge, humans are faced with new challenges. Simultaneously, perceptions about new infections and new plagues continue to change. What can and should be done? One must now consider the possible return of smallpox and its use as a weapon of bioterrorism. Meanwhile, even as the march to contain measles and poliomyelitis viruses continues at an impressive pace, bumps and setbacks have been encountered along the way, especially with measles having recurred in 2019 at the time of writing this book. Ultimately, the history of viruses, plagues, and people is an account of the world and the events that shape it. In the end, the splendor of human history is not in wars won, dynasties formed, or financial empires built but in improvement of the human condition. The obliteration of diseases that impinge on people’s health is a regal yardstick of civilization’s success, and those who accomplish that task will be among the true navigators of a brave new world.
{"title":"Conclusions and Future Predictions","authors":"M. Oldstone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0020","url":null,"abstract":"This concluding chapter explains that as viruses like human immunodeficiency virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Zika, and West Nile evolve and emerge, humans are faced with new challenges. Simultaneously, perceptions about new infections and new plagues continue to change. What can and should be done? One must now consider the possible return of smallpox and its use as a weapon of bioterrorism. Meanwhile, even as the march to contain measles and poliomyelitis viruses continues at an impressive pace, bumps and setbacks have been encountered along the way, especially with measles having recurred in 2019 at the time of writing this book. Ultimately, the history of viruses, plagues, and people is an account of the world and the events that shape it. In the end, the splendor of human history is not in wars won, dynasties formed, or financial empires built but in improvement of the human condition. The obliteration of diseases that impinge on people’s health is a regal yardstick of civilization’s success, and those who accomplish that task will be among the true navigators of a brave new world.","PeriodicalId":403735,"journal":{"name":"Viruses, Plagues, and History","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132995469","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0014
M. Oldstone
This chapter addresses West Nile virus, the cause of a formerly unknown disease whose path through America was a trail of dead birds and dead people. West Nile virus is currently the most common and severe form of mosquito-borne encephalitis in North America. At present, West Nile virus has been isolated from over 300 species of birds. The infected birds fall into two major groups: those that carry the virus and are asymptomatic and those that develop an often fatal neurologic disease. Crows, jays, magpies, and house finches, upon infection, develop high virus loads and rapidly infect the mosquitoes that prey on them. House sparrows are also reservoirs for high titers of West Nile virus and play a role in the virus’ transmission in city areas. Humans are incidental/accidental hosts in the natural mosquito–bird cycle of this viral infection. Most humans who become infected have received bites from mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus. The viruses then replicate at the bite site and likely spread to specialized cells, dendritic cells, which act as processors of foreign antigens. Viruses may also travel directly from the bite site into and through the blood.
{"title":"West Nile Virus: Deaths of Crows and Humans","authors":"M. Oldstone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0014","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter addresses West Nile virus, the cause of a formerly unknown disease whose path through America was a trail of dead birds and dead people. West Nile virus is currently the most common and severe form of mosquito-borne encephalitis in North America. At present, West Nile virus has been isolated from over 300 species of birds. The infected birds fall into two major groups: those that carry the virus and are asymptomatic and those that develop an often fatal neurologic disease. Crows, jays, magpies, and house finches, upon infection, develop high virus loads and rapidly infect the mosquitoes that prey on them. House sparrows are also reservoirs for high titers of West Nile virus and play a role in the virus’ transmission in city areas. Humans are incidental/accidental hosts in the natural mosquito–bird cycle of this viral infection. Most humans who become infected have received bites from mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus. The viruses then replicate at the bite site and likely spread to specialized cells, dendritic cells, which act as processors of foreign antigens. Viruses may also travel directly from the bite site into and through the blood.","PeriodicalId":403735,"journal":{"name":"Viruses, Plagues, and History","volume":"189 2","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114017986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0019
M. Oldstone
This chapter highlights the story of autism, the widespread acceptance of its incorrect cause, and the impact on use of vaccines, all stemming directly from deliberate, false reporting. The basic conflict is twofold. First, involvement of a scientific method that must be reproducible, be reliable, and possess substantial proof is in conflict with common/personal beliefs. Second, doctors, scientists, and public health workers, despite their mandate to listen to parents and patients concerning their opinions, must base medical conclusions on evidence that validates the outcome of each patient’s health issue. It is in this milieu that autism and the anti-vaccine groups still do battle. In 1998, Lancet, a usually respectable and reputable English journal, published Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s opinion that the measles, mumps, rubella (German measles) vaccine injected into the arms of children caused inflammation, leading to harmful chemicals entering the bloodstream through the gut (intestine). These factors, he said, traveled to the brain, where the harmful chemicals/toxins caused autism. In the face of this “fake news” about the source of autism and measles, the vaccination rate for measles dropped in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
{"title":"Apathy and Ignorance: False Prophets of Autism and the Anti-Vaccine Movement","authors":"M. Oldstone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0019","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter highlights the story of autism, the widespread acceptance of its incorrect cause, and the impact on use of vaccines, all stemming directly from deliberate, false reporting. The basic conflict is twofold. First, involvement of a scientific method that must be reproducible, be reliable, and possess substantial proof is in conflict with common/personal beliefs. Second, doctors, scientists, and public health workers, despite their mandate to listen to parents and patients concerning their opinions, must base medical conclusions on evidence that validates the outcome of each patient’s health issue. It is in this milieu that autism and the anti-vaccine groups still do battle. In 1998, Lancet, a usually respectable and reputable English journal, published Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s opinion that the measles, mumps, rubella (German measles) vaccine injected into the arms of children caused inflammation, leading to harmful chemicals entering the bloodstream through the gut (intestine). These factors, he said, traveled to the brain, where the harmful chemicals/toxins caused autism. In the face of this “fake news” about the source of autism and measles, the vaccination rate for measles dropped in the United Kingdom and Ireland.","PeriodicalId":403735,"journal":{"name":"Viruses, Plagues, and History","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130537469","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0004
M. Oldstone
This chapter looks at selected events throughout the course of history in which smallpox has played a decisive role. The story of smallpox is interwoven with the history of human migrations and wars, dramatically favoring one population or army over another. Smallpox actually changed the course of history by killing generals and kings or decimating their enemies. That history is presented as context for the chapter’s second part, which assesses whether or not there is a need to revaccinate today: the issues, risks, and benefits involved. Despite the eradication of smallpox as a disease, could the virus return? Since the virus does not linger in the form of a persistent infection, it is amenable to permanent eradication—that is to say, removal from the world. However, because the virus no longer circulates in any community, the numbers of never-vaccinated or never-infected susceptible individuals increase continually. Further, complete or efficient immunity of those previously vaccinated is believed to wane in 10 to 20 years. Consequently, the pool of highly susceptible individuals continues to expand enormously.
{"title":"Smallpox: The Geopolitical Impact of Smallpox","authors":"M. Oldstone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter looks at selected events throughout the course of history in which smallpox has played a decisive role. The story of smallpox is interwoven with the history of human migrations and wars, dramatically favoring one population or army over another. Smallpox actually changed the course of history by killing generals and kings or decimating their enemies. That history is presented as context for the chapter’s second part, which assesses whether or not there is a need to revaccinate today: the issues, risks, and benefits involved. Despite the eradication of smallpox as a disease, could the virus return? Since the virus does not linger in the form of a persistent infection, it is amenable to permanent eradication—that is to say, removal from the world. However, because the virus no longer circulates in any community, the numbers of never-vaccinated or never-infected susceptible individuals increase continually. Further, complete or efficient immunity of those previously vaccinated is believed to wane in 10 to 20 years. Consequently, the pool of highly susceptible individuals continues to expand enormously.","PeriodicalId":403735,"journal":{"name":"Viruses, Plagues, and History","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126664207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0017
M. Oldstone
This chapter studies mad cow disease. In 1985–1986, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, was first identified in cattle of southern England, and within two years, over 1,000 instances of infected cattle surfaced in more than 200 herds. Epidemiologic investigations indicated that the addition of meat and bone meal as a protein supplement to cattle feeds was the likely source of that infection. By 1993, cases of mad cow disease peaked at over 1,000 per week. In addition to controlling the BSE epidemic in cattle, procedures were established to gauge whether this disease was a human health problem and to safeguard the population from the potential risk of BSE transmission. As a defense measure, in 1990, a national Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) surveillance unit was established in the United Kingdom to monitor changes in the disease pattern of CJD that might indicate transmission of BSE to humans. Although CJD is the most common form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in humans, it is a rare disease with a uniform world incidence of about 1 case in 1 to 2 million persons per year.
{"title":"Mad Cow Disease and Englishmen: Dementia of Humans—Prions: Folding Protein Transmissible Diseases","authors":"M. Oldstone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0017","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter studies mad cow disease. In 1985–1986, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, was first identified in cattle of southern England, and within two years, over 1,000 instances of infected cattle surfaced in more than 200 herds. Epidemiologic investigations indicated that the addition of meat and bone meal as a protein supplement to cattle feeds was the likely source of that infection. By 1993, cases of mad cow disease peaked at over 1,000 per week. In addition to controlling the BSE epidemic in cattle, procedures were established to gauge whether this disease was a human health problem and to safeguard the population from the potential risk of BSE transmission. As a defense measure, in 1990, a national Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) surveillance unit was established in the United Kingdom to monitor changes in the disease pattern of CJD that might indicate transmission of BSE to humans. Although CJD is the most common form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in humans, it is a rare disease with a uniform world incidence of about 1 case in 1 to 2 million persons per year.","PeriodicalId":403735,"journal":{"name":"Viruses, Plagues, and History","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126687134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0002
M. Oldstone
This chapter defines what a virus is, how it replicates, and how it causes diseases. Peter Medawar, a biologist awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 1960, defined viruses as a piece of nucleic acid surrounded by bad news. Viruses cannot multiply until they invade a living cell. However, viruses can enter all cellular forms of life from plants and animals to bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. As opposed to plants and animals, which are made up of cells, viruses lack cell walls and are therefore obligatory parasites that depend for replication on the cells they infect. The attachment or binding of a viral protein to a cell receptor is the first step that initiates infection of a cell. The type of cells with such receptors and/or with the ability to replicate a given virus often determines the severity of illness that a virus can cause, the distribution of areas in the body that can be affected, and the host’s potential for recovery.
{"title":"Introduction to the Principles of Virology","authors":"M. Oldstone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter defines what a virus is, how it replicates, and how it causes diseases. Peter Medawar, a biologist awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 1960, defined viruses as a piece of nucleic acid surrounded by bad news. Viruses cannot multiply until they invade a living cell. However, viruses can enter all cellular forms of life from plants and animals to bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. As opposed to plants and animals, which are made up of cells, viruses lack cell walls and are therefore obligatory parasites that depend for replication on the cells they infect. The attachment or binding of a viral protein to a cell receptor is the first step that initiates infection of a cell. The type of cells with such receptors and/or with the ability to replicate a given virus often determines the severity of illness that a virus can cause, the distribution of areas in the body that can be affected, and the host’s potential for recovery.","PeriodicalId":403735,"journal":{"name":"Viruses, Plagues, and History","volume":"22 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116842146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0005
M. Oldstone
This chapter examines the history of yellow fever, the role it played in shaping slavery in the United States, and its part in the country’s westward expansion. Yellow fever was an endemic disease of West Africa that traveled to the New World and elsewhere aboard trading ships with their cargoes of slaves. The black African peoples, although easily infected, nevertheless withstood the effects in that fewer died from the infection than Caucasians, American Indians, or Asians. Ironically, as smallpox and measles devastated natives along the Caribbean coast and islands, growing numbers of African slaves were brought to replace those plantation laborers. When the value of Africans over natives became apparent, by virtue of the blacks’ resistance to yellow fever, the importation of these Africans increased still further. Because it was so lethal to susceptible humans, yellow fever actually disrupted exploration into the Caribbean. In fact, American expansion became possible only after a team led by Walter Reed arrived in Cuba to combat the disease and prove it was transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
{"title":"Yellow Fever","authors":"M. Oldstone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190056780.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the history of yellow fever, the role it played in shaping slavery in the United States, and its part in the country’s westward expansion. Yellow fever was an endemic disease of West Africa that traveled to the New World and elsewhere aboard trading ships with their cargoes of slaves. The black African peoples, although easily infected, nevertheless withstood the effects in that fewer died from the infection than Caucasians, American Indians, or Asians. Ironically, as smallpox and measles devastated natives along the Caribbean coast and islands, growing numbers of African slaves were brought to replace those plantation laborers. When the value of Africans over natives became apparent, by virtue of the blacks’ resistance to yellow fever, the importation of these Africans increased still further. Because it was so lethal to susceptible humans, yellow fever actually disrupted exploration into the Caribbean. In fact, American expansion became possible only after a team led by Walter Reed arrived in Cuba to combat the disease and prove it was transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.","PeriodicalId":403735,"journal":{"name":"Viruses, Plagues, and History","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127235949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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