COVID was not the first epidemic we have faced

By Father Mark S. Raphael, Ph.D.

COVID-19 is not the first pestilence to afflict the United States. Another was Yellow Fever, transmitted by the mosquito Aedes Aegypti.

The first outbreak after the Revolutionary War occurred in the nation’s first capital, Philadelphia. In August 1793, the HMS Hankey docked on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, disembarking several ill passengers. The city’s most prominent physician, also a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), diagnosed it as Yellow Fever, characterized by high body temperature, chills, pain and vomiting.

In 15% of cases, the afflicted entered a toxic phase with recurring fever, accompanied by jaundice due to liver damage. Bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract caused vomit containing blood – hence, the Spanish name for disease, vómito negro ("black vomit").

On Aug. 19, 1793, Peter Aston became the first person to die of Yellow Fever that year in Philadelphia. Of Philadelphia’s pre-epidemic population of 50,000, about 20,000 fled the capital city, including the first president, George Washington, and his cabinet. 

George had a Virginia plantation in which to shelter, but other evacuees were forced into quarantine in neighboring cities or were simply refused entry altogether, left homeless in the countryside to die.

Mathew Carey (1760-1839), an Irish Catholic immigrant, provided an eyewitness account in “A Short Account of the Malignant Fever” (1794). He described Yellow Fever as “the destroying scourge.” He witnessed “frightful scenes, which seemed to indicate a total dissolution of the bonds of society.” He also observed a collapse of public order, “and nearly the whole of the officers of the state had likewise retired.”

In a comment familiar in our COVID reality, Carey noted that many people wore “face cloths doused with vinegar.” Ominously, “acquaintances and friends avoided each other in the streets, and only signified their regard by a cold nod. The old custom of shaking hands fell in such general disuse, that many shrunk back with affright at even the offer of a hand.” 

Among those who stayed behind to serve the sick were Christian churches. In 1787, six years before the epidemic, two former Delaware slaves created the Free Africa Society: the Methodist Minister Reverend Richard Allen (1760-1831), and Episcopal Minister Reverend Absalom Jones (1746-1818). It was an interdenominational, mutual aid society for escaped slaves, which provided a model for the later development of African-American Christian churches. Of the 5,000 who died in this epidemic, 240 were African-American.

Matthew Carey made due record:

“At an early stage of the disorder, the elders of the African church met, and offered their services to the mayor, to procure nurses for the sick, and to assist in burying the dead. Their offers were accepted, and Absalom Jones and Richard Allen undertook the former department, that of furnishing nurses, and (former slave) William Gray the latter, the interment of the dead.”

Carey estimated that these nurses saved 6,000, including Dr. Rush, who treated those who would otherwise have died of neglect, expiring of hunger or dehydration when too weak to help themselves. With symptomatic care, some fever victims endured until their body’s own defenses prevailed. 

            As for Catholics, Philadelphia did not become a diocese until 1808, so efforts were organized by the local congregations of Old St. Joseph (est. 1733 by Father Joseph Greaton); Old St. Mary’s (est. 1763) and Holy Trinity (est. 1789). 

Matthew Carey offered this tribute: “To the clergy, (Yellow Fever) has likewise proved very fatal. Exposed, in the exercise of the last duties to the dying, to equal danger with the physician, it is not surprising that so many of them have fallen. Their names are, the Rev. Alexander Murry … the Rev. F.A. Fleming and the Rev. Laurence Graessl … the Rev. John Winkhaufe … the Rev. James Sproat … the Rev. William Dougherty – and five preachers of the Friends Society (i.e., Quakers).”

By the time it was done, 5,000 were dead, until an autumn frost on Oct. 9, 1793, ended the outbreak by freezing over the mosquito breeding pools.

Pennsylvania established a Board of Health two years later to enforce quarantine and sanitary regulations. 

Yellow Fever devastated cities throughout the nation until 1905, when the work of Carlos Juan Finlay (1833 to 1915), a Cuban epidemiologist, led to a countermeasure. He was the first to theorize that Yellow Fever was caused by a mosquito bite. He isolated the vector-species as Aedes Aegypti.

This led to a vaccine, developed by Walter Reed in 1903. It took time for it to be widely available, and so, 1905 was the last Yellow Fever outbreak in the United States.

            We pray that writers in the near future will be able to record a similar resolution for COVID. Until then, we pray, “Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Hasten to Help Us.”

Father Mark S. Raphael, Ph.D, is pastor of St. Louis King of France, Metairie, in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.