The Mississippi Valley's great yellow fever epidemic of 1878 /

In 1878, a virulent epidemic of yellow fever swept up the lower Mississippi River valley, wreaking havoc in its path. In Grenada, Mississippi, where there were 1,050 cases and 350 deaths in a population of 2,500, almost the only inhabitants who did not contract the disease were persons who had the foresight and the means to flee. Bloom's work is based on extensive use of primary sources, especially newspapers, public health reports, and medical journals and tracts. Unfortunately, he did not examine the rich historical literature on yellow fever in the South. (Thus, he is unaware of the many ways in which yellow fever shaped southern urban development and of its impact on urban, state, and national public health services.) Bloom does an artful job of describing the perplexities that confounded medical authorities who studied the disease, but persons interested in the broader social significance of yellow fever should consult John H. Ellis, Yellow Fever and Public Health in the New South (CH, Nov'92) and Margaret Humphreys, Yellow Fever and the South (CH, Apr'93). Advanced undergraduate through faculty. S. Galishoff; Georgia State University