1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic During the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 in Philadelphia, 5,000 or more people were listed in the official register of deaths between August 1 and November 9. The vast majority of them died of yellow fever, making the epidemic in the city of 50,000 people one of the most severe in United States history. By the end of September, 20,000 people had fled the city. The mortality rate peaked in October, before frost finally killed the mosquitoes and brought an end to the epidemic in November. Doctors tried a variety of treatments, but knew neither
Yellow fever symptoms of fever, pain, nausea, and vomiting 6-10 days after leaving the affected area) is treated seriously. If yellow fever is suspected, the virus cannot be confirmed until 6-10 days after the illness. A direct confirmation can be obtained by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, where the genome of the virus is amplified. Another direct approach is the isolation of the virus and its growth in cell culture using blood plasma; this can take 1-4 weeks. Serologically, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay during the acute phase of the disease using specific IgM against yellow fever or an increase in specific IgG