when did the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 start
1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic In the spring of 1793, French colonial refugees, some with slaves, arrived from Cap Français, Saint-Domingue. The 2,000 immigrants were fleeing the slave revolution in the north of the island.[3] They crowded the port of Philadelphia, where the first yellow fever epidemic in 30 years began in the city in August.[3][4] It is likely that the refugees and ships carried the yellow fever virus and mosquitoes. It is transmitted during mosquito bites. The mosquitoes easily breed in small amounts of standing water. The medical community and others in 1793 did not understand the role of mosquitoes in the transmission of yellow fever and other diseases. Physicians and other survivors of the epidemic wrote extensively about it trying to learn from the crisis.