Ben Franklin's World is a production of the

O'Mohandro Institute and the sponsor for this episode is the Georgian Papers

Program.

Welcome to Ben Franklin's World, podcast about Early American History with Liz Kovart.

The study of history is key to understanding who we are and how we can affect a better future.

Ben Franklin's world will introduce you to historical people and events that have impacted

and shaped our present day world. And now here's your host, Liz Colart.

Hello and welcome to episode 174 of Ben Franklin's world.

The podcast dedicated to helping you,

learn more about how the people and events of our early American

past have shaped the present day world we live in. It's February 2008. and it's started early and has already caused more hospitalizations than any other flu season over the last decade.

Plus, it's been responsible for more than 50 pediatric deaths in the United States.

Now, as severe as our seasonal flu epidemic is this year,

it's nothing compared to the epidemics of yellow fever that took hold in the

early American Republic. Between the 1790s and early 1800s, Yellow Fever struck cities like Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Charleston.

And this leads us to wonder, what happened when epidemic diseases struck early America and how exactly

did early Americans deal with disease and illness. Thomas Appel, author of feverish bodies and

lighten minds, science and thes, Science in the Yellow Fever controversy

in the Early American Republic

has some answers for us.

Now, as we explore the Yellow Fever epidemics

of the Early Republic, Thomas reveals

...