Deadly First Contacts 10 29 2013 Deadly First Contacts Death rates in Americas often 50 90 percent after first contact with Hispaniola Haiti and Dominican Republic fell from 500 000 to 500 Europeans or Africans in 25 years Central Mexico from 25 million in 1520s to 1 million in 1608 Disease Pools Four major disease pools Europe Africa Asia and Americas Three mixed prior to 1492 leaving Americas vulnerable Early Colonial America colonies Disease a factor in high death rates in Chesapeake and other Included malaria small pox yellow fever typhoid tuberculosis diphtheria scarlet fever More devastating for Indians o Acquired immunity vs social breakdown o London Plague of 1665 and the village of Eyam in Derbyshire 259 0f 292 inhabitants died Disease Theory No understanding of bacteria or viruses o Fevers were to 17th and 18th centuries what cancer is today killers of otherwise healthy people Believed illness caused by bad humors in the body Period of heroic medicine o The sicker the patient the more aggressive the treatment Common Treatments Bleeding Purging and vomiting with emetics o Calomel o Jalap o Cream of tartar o Alvin Smith Blistering from body o Francis Asbury Laudanum o Tincture of opium Patent medicines o Caused 2nd degree burn assumed to be bad humor removed Medical Practice Doctoring was not an organized profession Many relied on medical handbooks o John Wesley s Primitive Physic o First published in 1747 36 subsequent editions o 1789 edition contains 900 recipes fro 289 different ailments Diseases and Epidemics Malaria o Common in Chesapeake from early 17th century o Malaria is reaction in body to an invasion of parasites transmitted by mosquitoes o Four malaria infections Most common is Plasmodium malariae Quartan fevers every 72 hours as high as 106 F o Peruvian bark of Jesuit s bark used to treat malaria Contains quinine Yellow Fever o Invades the liver leading to necrosis of liver and jaundice o Characterized by Violent headaches Joint aches High Fever Vomiting progressively tinged with blood until black Yellowish cast to eyes and skin o Spread by Aedes aegypti mosquito Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 o Benjamin Rush believed it was caused by shipment of waterlogged coffee left to rot on the wharf Rush signed Declaration of Independence was Surgeon General of Continental Army Professor of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania o Centered in Philadelphia o Rush s treatment Purging and vomiting with calomel and jalap daily bleeding Extracted 144 ounces of blood in 6 days from one patient while giving him 150 grains of calomel 1793 Yellow Fever o 4000 of Philadelphia s 50 000 inhabitants died in 3 months o Most residents fled city o African Americans led by Richard Allen asked to stay to care for sick o Epidemic spread panic along east coast Small Pox 1775 1782 Killed more than 100 000 people across North America from Mexico to Canada east coast to west coast Killed 400 000 Europeans per year in 18th century Eradicated worldwide in 1970s Famous suffers o Children of Henry VIII Edward Mary and Elizabeth o George Washington Andrew Jackson Abraham Lincoln and Jonathan Edwards Anthrax Caused by bacteria Bacillus Anthracis Effects both human and other animals Can form dormant spores that survive in hostile conditions for decades or centuries Found on all continents even Antarctica Animal vaccine developed in 1881 by Louis Pasteur human vaccine in 1954 Civil War Medicine The Civil War was fought at the end of the medical Middle Ages according to the Union army surgeon general There were few medical schools and most doctors had little formal Harvard University did not own a single stethoscope or microscope training until after the Civil War Disease and Battle about 1 in 4 o A Civil War soldier s chances of not surviving the war were o Disease responsible for 3 out of 5 deaths o About half of deaths from disease were caused by intestinal disorders mainly typhoid fever diarrhea and dysentery Amputations o The Minnie ball tore huge wounds shattering bones and carrying dirt and germs into the wound o 3 out of 4 operations were amputations Performed with chloroform as anesthetic o 25 died after amputations performed after 24 hours o 50 died after amputations performed after 24 hours o Surgeons knew about the risk of infection or surgical fevers but didn t know how to prevent it Often went days without washing hands or instruments o 10 29 2013 10 29 2013