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Reference Manager
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1.
Smart C , Barnes JK , Woodward JJ , Smart C , Otis GA & Huntington DL The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1861–65). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 77–184.
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Tran TH , Day NP , Ly VC , Nguyen TH , Pham PL , Nguyen HP , Bethell DB , Dihn XS , Tran TH , White NJ , 1996. Blackwater fever in southern Vietnam: a prospective descriptive study of 50 cases. Clin Infect Dis 23: 1274–1281.
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Shanks GD , 2017. The multifactorial epidemiology of blackwater fever. Am J Trop Med Hyg 97: 1804–1807.
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Malaria Paradoxes of the U.S. Civil War
G. Dennis Shanks
G. Dennis Shanks
Australian Defence Force Malaria and Infectious Disease Institute, Enoggera, Queensland, Australia;
School of Public Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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School of Public Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Search for other papers by G. Dennis Shanks in
Current site
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PubMed
ABSTRACT.
The U.S. Civil War (1861–1865) pre-dated modern understanding of malaria. Yet, malarial diseases (remittent fever, intermittent fever, typho-malarial fever) were frequently reported as causes of morbidity and mortality in soldiers. Modern readers find Civil War-era descriptions of malaria contradictory or paradoxical. For example, although the concept of race-specific immunity to tropical diseases was widely accepted, malaria mortality rates were reportedly more than three times higher among Black than White Union soldiers (16/1,000/year versus 5/1,000/year). Also, malaria rates were reportedly lower among prisoners of war at the infamous Andersonville, GA, prison camp than among Confederate soldiers in the same area. Literally tons of quinine were given prophylactically to Union soldiers deployed in the southern United States, but blackwater fever was not reported by medical officers. All three paradoxes have reasonable modern explanations that give credence to the astute clinical observations of our scientific predecessors during the U.S. Civil War.
Author Notes
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Defence Force or the U.S. Department of Defense.
Author’s addresses: G. Dennis Shanks, Australian Defence Force Malaria and Infectious Disease Institute, Enoggera, QLD, Australia, and School of Public Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. E-mail: dennis.shanks@defence.gov.au.
ProCite
RefWorks
Reference Manager
BibTeX
Zotero
EndNote
-
1.
Smart C , Barnes JK , Woodward JJ , Smart C , Otis GA & Huntington DL The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1861–65). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 77–184.
-
2.
Woodward JJ , Smart C , Otis GA , Huntington DL , 1879. The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1861–65): Pt. 1 Medical History. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
-
3.
Love AG , 1926. Malarial fevers in the United States Army and at selected stations. Mil Surg 58: 593–610.
-
4.
Hallowell NP , 1897. The Negro as a Soldier in the War of the Rebellion The Military Historical Society of Massachusetts. Boston, MA: Little and Brown.
-
5.
Woodward JJ , 1863. Outlines of the Chief Camp Diseases of the United States Armies: As Observed during the Present War. Philadelphia, PA: J. B. Lippincott.
-
6.
Breeden JO , 1973. Andersonville—a Southern surgeon’s story. Bull Hist Med 47: 317–343.
-
7.
Jones J , 1867. A report of the diseases among the prisoners at Andersonville, GA. Flint A, ed. Surgical Memoirs of the War of the Rebellion. New York, NY: U.S. Sanitary Commission, 483–599.
-
8.
Atwater D , 1866. A List of the Union Soldiers Buried at Andersonville: Copied from the Official Record in the Surgeon’s Office at Andersonville. New York, NY: Tribune Association.
-
9.
Borden WB , 1933. A study of malarial relapses in the United States Army. Am J Hyg 17: 1–36.
-
10.
Levine RS , Peterson AT , Benedict MQ , 2004. Distribution of members of Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say s.l. (Diptera: Culicidae) and implications for their roles in malaria transmission in the United States. J Med Entomol 41: 607–613.
-
11.
Berenger-Faraud LJB , 1874. Fievre Bilieuse Melanurique des Pays Chauds. Paris, France: Victor Goupy.
-
12.
Hicks RD , 2013. “The Popular Dose with Doctors”: Quinine and the American Civil War. Available at: https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/the-popular-dose-with-doctors-quinine-and-the-american-civil-war. Accessed January 23, 2023.
-
13.
Tran TH , Day NP , Ly VC , Nguyen TH , Pham PL , Nguyen HP , Bethell DB , Dihn XS , Tran TH , White NJ , 1996. Blackwater fever in southern Vietnam: a prospective descriptive study of 50 cases. Clin Infect Dis 23: 1274–1281.
-
14.
Shanks GD , 2017. The multifactorial epidemiology of blackwater fever. Am J Trop Med Hyg 97: 1804–1807.
| Past two years | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1425 | 712 | 248 |
| Full Text Views | 356 | 187 | 0 |
| PDF Downloads | 186 | 17 | 0 |