yellow fever

(noun)

An acute viral infection which inflicted the American Army in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. The U.S. Army in experienced 13 times more yellow fever casualties than combat casualties during the Cuba campaign.

Related Terms

Examples of yellow fever in the following topics:

  • The Spanish-American War

    • By 1897–98, American public opinion was largely influenced by the "yellow journalism" of the United States; outrage at reports of Spanish atrocities in Cuba grew exponentially.
    • American naval power proved decisive, allowing U.S. expeditionary forces to disembark in Cuba against a Spanish garrison, already reeling from nationwide insurgent attacks and decimated by yellow fever.

  • Disease in the New World

    • One of the most devastating diseases was smallpox; other deadly diseases included typhus, measles, influenza, bubonic plague, cholera, malaria, mumps, yellow fever, and pertussis (whooping cough).

  • Ida B. Wells

    • In 1878 at the age of 16, she lost both her parents and her 10-month old brother, Stanley to a yellow fever epidemic that swept through the South with many fatalities.

  • "Mother" Jones

    • After her husband and four children all died of yellow fever and her workshop was destroyed in a fire in 1871, she began working as an organizer for the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers union.

  • In the South: The Haitian Revolution

    • But when it became apparent that the French intended to re-establish slavery, the black population, under Dessalines and Pétion, fought back against the French troops--which sustained massive casualties from fighting and an outbreak of yellow fever.

  • Slavery and Empire

    • Unlike American Indians, Africans had a limited natural immunity to yellow fever and malaria; however, malnutrition, poor housing, inadequate clothing allowances, and overwork contributed to a high mortality rate which further increased the demand for the importation of Africans to replenish the labor supply.

  • The Spanish-American War

    • American naval power proved decisive, allowing U.S. expeditionary forces to disembark in Cuba against a Spanish garrison already reeling from nationwide insurgent attacks and wasted by yellow fever.

  • Women's Activism

    • After her husband and four children all died of yellow fever and her workshop was destroyed in a fire in 1871, she began working as an organizer for the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers union.

  • Washington and DuBois

    • While visiting her grandmother in the Mississippi Valley in 1878, she received word that her hometown of Holly Springs had suffered a yellow fever epidemic.

  • The Growth of Cities

    • Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions in New York City contributed to an increase in disease, and cholera and yellow fever ravaged the city.