Plagues and Epidemics

Epidemics and plagues were the cause of the loss of many lives in this country from it's beginnings. The causes were varied, from commuicable diesase, person to person, to fleas bearing diseases to comtaminated water sources. There have been many people simply disappeared from illness. Some didn't go home after exposure, other were away from home and died unknown in- at unknown places.

I know of one mass grave in Missouri which resembles an indian mound where a wagon train came through and no one survived the illness. They were all buried in a common grave site. The people were afraid of the belongings and burned the wagons and contents with ever knowing the names. another case was a man in Kentucky, sent word to his wife he had been exposed to cholera, for her to cross the river to Indiana where she would be safer. Nothing more was ever heard of him.

This is a list of the dates and types of epidemics and plagues in this country.

1633- Smallpox struck the Indians in Massachusetts, probably brought on arriving ships of settlers. At least 15 children died on incoming ships, as well as about 20 colonists already resident.

1634- Smallpox in Connecticut, a catastrophic epidemic that was introduced by Dutch traders and killed 95% of the Indians along the Connecticut River, and spread north into Canada. The English settlers were mostly immune, having had the disease as children themselves, but attributed their escape, and the Indians' death, to God's will. The elimination of the natives in the Connecticut valley opened up that area to settlement.

1647- Yellow fever killed more than 5,000 people in Barbados, and spread from there to Mexico, Cuba, and elsewhere. A second outbreak in 1691 killed many of the British settlers in Barbados, who had arrived since the earlier outbreak, whereas older natives were by this time immune.

1648-49- Another smallpox outbreak spread to many towns in the Massachusetts colony. By this time there had been many children born in the colony who were susceptible. A simultaneous epidemic of whooping cough added to the severity of the epidemic, and to the overall death toll.

1662- Smallpox killed more than a thousand Iroquois in central New York state

1665- The Great Plague of London killed at least 20 percent of the city's population, perhaps as many as 100,000 people.

1666- A smallpox outbreak struck Boston, but was relatively mild, and only about 40 people died. No doubt brought from London on a ship.

1668- Probably the earliest recorded epidemic of yellow fever non-tropical America, striking New York in late summer and early fall of 1668, and described as an "autumnal bilious fever in infectious form". The contemporary descriptions leave some possibility open that it could have been some other disease, but yellow fever seems the most likely.

1677-78- Another smallpox epidemic in Boston was much worse than the 1666 epidemic, and killed several of the town leaders.

1699- Charleston SC had an epidemic, the first there to be positively identified as yellow fever; probably about 160-190 died.

1702 Yellow fever struck New York, killing more than 500 people over a three-month period, which was probably about 10% of the population at the time.

1702-1703- Smallpox hit Boston again. This time about 300 died, but a simultaneous outbreak of scarlet fever makes it hard to assess who died from what.

1706- Charleston SC was struck with yellow fever again. About 5% of the population died.

1721-22- Smallpox struck Boston again, with about 6000 people affected in a total population of 11,000, of whom 844 died. This epidemic prompted the first use of inoculation against smallpox in the New World.

1728,1732- Charleston SC was hit by yellow fever twice in a four year period. The cause (mosquitoes) was not understood, and treatment wasn't very effective.

1735-40- Epidemics of diphtheria and scarlet fever spread through various parts of New England. Both diseases were referred to as "throat distemper" and weren't distinguished. Hundreds of people died, most of them children.

1743-1745- Yellow fever struck New York again. A correlation with the dockyard areas was noticed, but mosquitoes were still not recognized as the vector.

1763-64- Smallpox hit Boston once again, with about 170 deaths. This epidemic was less serious than previous ones, probably because of inoculation.

1789 A- widespread epidemic of influenza hit New England, New York and Nova Scotia in fall 1789. Most deaths appear to have been from secondary pneumonia.

1792-99- Yellow fever ravaged cities all along the east coast, including Charleston, Philadelphia, New Haven, New York, and Baltimore. The outbreak in Philadelphia in the summer of 1793 was the most severe, and most memorable. The disease was probably introduced from ships carrying French refugees who were fleeing turmoil in Santo Domingo, and then spread by mosquitoes that bred in stagnant water that in years with more rain had been waterways and canals. Ten percent of the population in that city died, about 5,000 people altogether. The new city of Washington DC was under construction at the time, and Philadelphia was the interim capital. Most of the government officials fled the city, including George Washington and the members of his cabinet. Various treatments were tried, none of them very effective, and controversy raged over the best way to prevent and treat the disease. Cold weather finally brought an end to the outbreak, in late October.

1802- Smallpox killed about two thirds of the Omaha Indians in what is now northeast Nebraska.

1826-28- Dengue fever spread from Savannah, Georgia, to other cities along the southeastern coast, and through the Caribbean.

1829-33- In the Pacific northwest, malaria killed an estimated 150,000 native Americans. Other diseases may have contributed to the death toll, but contemporary writing describes symptoms that closely correspond to those of malaria. The disease was probably introduced in February 1829 by a ship reaching Oregon after coming from Chile, carrying infected mosquitoes in water tanks onboard ship. The Columbia River was flooded at the time, creating stagnant water in which the mosquitoes could breed.

1830-31 An influenza epidemic began in Asia, probably China, late in 1829, and spread from there to the Philippines in September 1830, to Indonesia in January 1831, through the Malay peninsula and into Asia in 1832. The disease also broke out in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the winter of 1830-31 and spread westward overland through the summer of 1831. By November it had reached the U.S., and continued to spread there in 1832. Another outbreak of influenza spread through Asia and Europe during 1836-37 but except for a single Canadian focus did not reach North America.

1826-37 The second cholera pandemic of the 19th century, and the most devastating one, began in Bengal and spread through India in 1826. It reached Afghanistan in 1827, and spread further into central Asia and the middle east. By late 1830 it had reached Moscow, and from there spread westward into Europe in 1831. It reached England on a ship from Hamburg in October 1831 and spread throughout the British Isles. It reached New York in 1832, and spread from there throughout most of the U.S. over the next year.

1837 Smallpox started with a Sioux tribe in Missouri in June 1837, then spread to Blackfoot and other tribes in Montana and Saskatchewan. The last previous outbreak among the Blackfoot had been in 1781, so by 1837 most of the population was susceptible.

1847 Hundreds of Cayuse Indians in the Pacific northwest were killed by measles. This tribe had never been exposed to measles previously, and missionaries were blamed for introducing it. One missionary near present-day Walla Walla tried to provide them with food and medicine, but the Indians thought he was making it worse, and killed him, his wife and twelve others at the mission, and took a number of others hostage. Several years of conflict followed.

1849 The third major worldwide pandemic of cholera, again starting in Bengal, reached Europe and the U.S. in 1848-49. The English physician John Snow demonstrated in 1854 that it was spread by contaminated water.

1850-51 An extensive epidemic of dengue fever began in Charleston SC, then spread to Savannah, Augusta, New Orleans, Mobile, Galveston, and other southern coastal cities.

1861-65 The U.S. Civil War brought epidemics of dysentery, typhoid fever, hepatitis, malaria, smallpox, measles, and venereal diseases. More than three times as many soldiers died of infectious disease than died of battle wounds.

1863-66 The fourth cholera pandemic of the 19th century began in India in 1863, spread first to the middle east, and then into the Mediterranean. It arrived in New York on a ship coming from France in October 1865, and spread rapidly. Public health reform kept the death toll lower than in previous epidemics, but there were tens of thousands of deaths nonetheless. Another wave swept through the south and midwest in 1873, hitting particularly hard in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys.

1868-75- Smallpox outbreaks hit New York, Philadelphia and other cities, and it was discovered that many children had not been vaccinated. The New York City Board of Health recommended that all residents be vaccinated in 1870, but there was widespread public resistance, since the vaccine itself was not without risk, and people perceived the campaign as creating a panic situation and allowing doctors to profit from it.

1889-90- A worldwide epidemic of influenza, the most devastating to that time, began in central Asia in the summer of 1889, spread north into Russia, east to China and west to Europe. By December it had struck the major U.S. cities, and continued to spread through North America the following year.

1893-94- The first large recorded outbreak of polio in the U.S. began in Boston, and spread into New England, particularly Vermont. Of 132 cases documented in Vermont, there were 18 deaths and 30 victims left with permanent paralysis

1890s- The third plague pandemic began in China in the 1850s and spread slowly until it reached the seaports in the 1880s, then spread more rapidly around the world, striking particularly hard in India, Egypt and north Africa, and South America. The continental U.S. was largely spared, but Hawaii suffered a severe outbreak in 1899, and San Francisco was affected in 1900-1904, and again in 1907-1909. The second outbreak there was exacerbated by unsanitary conditions following the earthquake of 1906. Sporadic outbreaks continued worldwide for years, and officially this pandemic was not considered over until 1959

1901-03- Smallpox had its last major outbreak in the urban northeast U.S., beginning in New York and spreading through other major cities.

1907-1916- Polio turned into a major problem in the U.S., with about a thousand cases in New York in 1907, and another outbreak in 1911. The disease was recognized as contagious, but there was no understanding yet of exactly how it was spread. The first widespread outbreak, seriously affecting 26 states, occurred in 1916. About 7,000 deaths were recorded.

1917-1919- The most lethal influenza pandemic ever killed half a million people worldwide. Its spread was facilitated by troop movements in the closing months of World War I. Mortality rates were unusually high for flu, especially among young, otherwise healthy adults. Deaths occurred both from the flu itself and from secondary pneumonia.

1931- Another outbreak of polio swept the U.S. during the summer of 1931, killing more than 4,000 people, about 12 percent of the reported cases.

1942-53 Polio continued to ravage the U.S., peaking in 1952 with about 60,000 cases. Introduction of the Salk vaccine in 1955 brought an end to the epidemic.

1957-58- The "Asian flu" started in southwest China in February 1957, possibly having originated in 1956 in Vladivostok. Globally it affected 10-35% of the population but overall mortality was much lower than in the 1918 epidemic, about 0.25%. The flu spread to Hong Kong and Singapore in April 1957, Japan in May, elsewhere in Pacific in June, the middle east and Africa in July, Europe in August-October, and the U.S. in October of 1957.

This list was compiled largely from Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence, edited by George C. Kohn, and published by Facts On File, Inc., 1995.

Portions abstracted Dec 2000 by Betty Brooks for educational purposes