Viruses And Epidemic In Fever 1793 By Laurie Anderson

The novel Fever 1793 , written by Laurie Anderson, is a narrative which describes the yellow fever epidemic in the late 1700’s. This epidemic caused the deaths of 5,000 or more people in a town of 50,000 in only 3 months. A young girl named Mattie from the town of Philadelphia has to deal with the deathly illness spreading around the world. The novel begins with the death of Mattie’s childhood friend, Polly. The citizens continued their daily lives shrugging off the death as a fluke and tried to ignore the fact that something was very wrong. As more people in Philadelphia became ill, including Mattie’s mother later on in the book, she was ushered away with her grandpa to go to a safer place. Her and her grandfather are mistaken for fever

This field is analogous to epidemiology. It is geared more toward viruses specifically whereas epidemiology focus on diseases in general. It “is the study of viruses and virus-like agents, including (but not limited to) their taxonomy, disease-producing properties, cultivation and genetics” (Meštrović,2015). Medical professionals like Max Theiler go through a process to determine what kind of virus is being analyzed. They classify components of the virus so it was indistinguishable contagion. To identify if the disease is a virus, there must be evidence shown that the cells do not undergo binary fission; they create new particles like an assembly line. Another trait of a virus is they have a one, single nucleic acid, whether that be DNA or

It showed two different types of people. The ones that are more selfish, only caring about their family, and the ones who care about the entire human race as a whole. It shows how an emergency can quickly change attitudes and blur lines of morality. The fever caused some to throw ethics and civilization out the window. I think it’s very interesting to see how when others are pushed into critical situations, which ones crack under pressure and those who continue to fight on. It is eye opening as a reader to understand how choices shape our