The vulnerability of New Orleans’ black and foreign-born populations in the 1878 yellow fever outbreak: a reassessment
2019
Richardson, Gabriele
Since the nineteenth century, medical researchers and social scientists have debated whether persons of African descent have comparative immunity to yellow fever. Studies have mainly used social science methodologies, notably the career-long but still-controversial research of Sheldon Watts and Kenneth Kiple. This case study, in contrast, applied epidemiological methodology to new data about the 1878 New Orleans’ yellow fever outbreak and, using a retrospective cohort study, concluded that Blacks did indeed have a much lower mortality rate than several other non-African groups. Foreign-born residents, Africans, and African-Americans were examined as exposed groups in the outbreak. The 1880 Census was used to measure the yellow fever risk for people born in Europe and for the entire Black population. Yellow fever deaths data came primarily from the records of the New Orleans Board of Health report but was here augmented by records from the Charity Hospital, Cemetery Burial, Coroner’s Office, obituaries, and prisons, creating a more accurate death figure of 4775. Results show that the relative risk (RR) of dying from yellow fever among the foreign-born population exposed to the disease is higher compared to Blacks. The figures are RR 6.28 (Italy), RR 2.55 (France), RR 1.47 (Great Britain), and RR 1.26 (German Empire), and Blacks (RR 0.25). Besides presenting a case in which Blacks were clearly shown as less vulnerable to the disease, the study also showed that contemporary epidemiological statistics and methods could achieve meaningful results regarding vulnerability to yellow fever even using incomplete data from the distant past.
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