The American Plague

by Molly Caldwell Crosby

I am fascinated by the science of diseases, and have been for as long as I can remember. When I was still a little girl, I became convinced that I was destined to die of ebola thanks to a news report covering outbreaks (Thank you, NBC 7 for scarring a child for life). Now I work in the medical field, so my interest in diseases is believably justified. My sister, who also shares this interest, gave me The American Plague to read after our trip to New Orleans (which was ravaged by the "Yellow Jack"). This is a historical look at yellow fever: how it shaped the history of the United States, the study of the disease, and the development of a vaccine. The book begins by focusing on Memphis, Tennessee at a time when the city was in the middle of a yellow fever epidemic. What was once a burgeoning new city, being compared to Chicago in the North, became a destroyed and socially divided area thanks to "Yellow Jack". As someone who just recently visited Memphis, it was interesting to read more about the history of the city, and the martyrs who stayed behind to fight this illness. Caldwell then progresses into the study of how yellow fever was spread, Walter Reed's work with mosquitoes, and how a vaccine was finally developed. Yellow fever was a truly violent disease, that ended wars and destroyed entire cities. In modern times, where any single case of yellow fever must be reported to the CDC and WHO, it is easy to lose sight of the horror of this disease. We live in a country where we no longer get routinely vaccinated due to proper sanitation, which hinders the spread of mosquitoes in populated areas, and the significant reduction of the specific mosquitoes that carry the virus. However, we owe much to the scientists and volunteers who risked, and lost, their lives to get us to this point. Caldwell's work, although factual, is engaging and informs the reader about an important part of our history that is all too often overlooked.