Some account of the yellow fever epidemy by which Brazil was invaded in the latter part of the year 1849 / by J.O. M'William.

  • MacWilliam, John Ormiston, 1808-1862.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some account of the yellow fever epidemy by which Brazil was invaded in the latter part of the year 1849 / by J.O. M'William. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    rom the Rio da Prata, about two leagues from the city. The banks of the river are studded with the mangrove. A secure natural harbour is formed by a reef of hard sandstone, which runs parallel to, and not far distant from, the shore. The city contains 120,000 persons, viz.:— 1. Whites, native . . 34,000 „ foreign 6,000 40,000 2. Blacks, native . . 30,000 „ African . 20,000 50,000 3. Mulattoes . 30,000 120,000 On the I7th day of December, 1840, the French bark Alcyon arrived at Pernambuco from Bahia, having lost two men on the passage from yellow fever, (a) Notwithstand- ing this she was admitted to pratique, and anchored among the other vessels in the harbour. Some fresh cases of fever occurring on board, they were sent to the French hospital (situated in San Antonio;) but one of them having termi- nated fatally on the 19th, the authorities ordered the rest to be re-embarked, and interdicted all communication with the Alcyon. The Consul, writing on the 21st December, says, “No cases have as yet to my knowledge occurred within the city. The authorities have ordered all vessels from Bahia to be placed under quarantine for eleven days.’’ In a postscript to the same letter, he adds, “Two cases have since been reported on shore.’’(b) On the 25th December, Dr. Baton, an English medical man, young, healthy, and robust, and but a short time in the country, was attacked with fever in the British Hospital at Boa Vista, and died on the 27th. The immediate cause of death was at first sup- posed to have been epilepsy. He laboured for some days under low fever, and was found upon the floor of the room, and almost instantly died, the body turning bright yellow. (a) Dr. Paterson, of Batiia, states, that four men were sent onshore ill with fever just before the Alcyou sailed from that port, although she was granted a clean bill of health. A correspondent at Bahia, writing on Jan. 29,1850, says, “ Accounts have been received, that the epidemic has made its appearance at Rio and Pernambuco, which is not surprising, as the authorities here, until now, denied its contagiousness, and continued to grant clean bills of health to all vessels.” (b) Dr. May, from whom I have heard since this paper was read at the Epidemiological Society, says, “ One or two cases appeared in the town, and were speedily fatal, but nothing was said about them, in order not to create alarm. In the lastdays of December a seaman came into the British hospital with broken ribs from a Brazilian steamer, in which he had arrived direct from Bahia, where he had been on shore for some time. A few days after the admission of this man Dr. Paton was attacked. The seaman had BO fever on atlmission, but he was emaciated and sallow.”