Yellow fever Epidemic hits Gibraltar in 1804
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Yellow fever Epidemic hits Gibraltar in 1804
Professor Larry Sawchuk at the University of Toronto has dedicated a large part of his career to the study of diseases and epidemics which affected Gibraltar in the past. One such was the outbreak of yellow fever which hit Gibraltar in September 1804. Yellow fever is a viral infection caused by a bite from an infected mosquito. Gibraltar's population at the time was 15,000 and a third had perished by the end of the year. These are the figures, reported in the Gibraltar Directory:
“Since the first appearance of the fever in Gibraltar in the beginning of September to its total extinction in the last days of December, 1804, the following have succumbed:
Officers 54
Soldiers 864
Soldier's wives and children 164
Inhabitants 4864”
The first news of the epidemic reached Gibraltar at the end of August when an order was issued "that all communication by land and sea should be stopped and that no person whatever should hold conversation with Spaniards, on the neutral ground, nor fishermen to be permitted to fish from the neutral ground". This is a good example of measures taken in ignorance of the nature of the disease. It is no surprise that the measures had no effect.
A book by Professor Sawchuk and his team "Diary of an Epidemic" is available from the museum shop.
Image: Castle Ramp from a barrack window in Bell Lane, 6th March, 1833. Watercolour by Lieutenant Frederick Leeds Edridge.
Published: May 21, 2020
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