| Date(s): | February 1878 |
| Location(s): | DUVAL, Florida |
| Tag(s): | Health/Death |
| Course: | “Rise And Fall of the Slave South,” University of Virginia |
| Rating: | 2 (1 votes) |
In February 1878, delegates of leaders in the medical profession from all over the South met in Jacksonville, Florida for a convention about yellow fever. Yellow fever is a viral disease carried by mosquitoes and affected the South from time to time in the nineteenth century. The convention's purpose was to “consider the matter of a uniform system of quarantine, and to take steps to prevent the introduction of disease into Southern cities' according to reports by the Atlanta Constitution. Several resolutions were passed to stop Yellow Fever from creeping into the United States during the coming summer. A delegation was picked to go before Congress to speak about the matter, and advisory recommendations to not allow boats from areas associated with the disease to port in the US during the summer were accomplishments of the convention.
This convention and its recommendations turned out to be prophetic because a severe outbreak of yellow fever did occur. The Mississippi River Valley became affected by the virus and around 13,000 people died during late summer of 1878. The death toll and effects were splattered all across the press and many started adhering to the recommendations of the February 1878 convention.