Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2021 1:43:05 GMT
Malaria, you may ask? What has that to do with anything?
Well, I'm reading, among many other things, 1493, by Chales C. Mann discussing events after Columbus came to America initiating the "Columbian Exchange" between the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Malaria was apparently unknown in the America's be we had the right sort of mosquito's to carry it. There may have been animal variants around but nothing that previously affected the natives much. However, like Zombies, it only takes one infected person to trigger the disease and a mosquito to bite him.
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Malaria was all over Europe at the time (including to my surprise) England. At any rate, someone with Malaria was with Columbus and it was let loose in the New World and contributed to the die off of the Native Population, requiring Slaves, and blah blah blah.
So now we fast forward to the Revolution and we find that after Cowpens, Cornwalis retreated to Yorktown which was apparently a hotbed of malarial activity and for some reason, the British soliders were about 50% infected and debilitated by the disease, perhaps in addition to the French Navy and Army, helped us win the Revolutionary War.
Moving forward to the Civil War, the boyrs from the North were not much exposed to Malaria because the disease does not fare well when the temperature gets below 66 - 72 degrees. But when the Army of the Potomic was concentrated in Washington D.C. (a region rife with malaria) and then when it further deployed toware Richmond (more Malaria) about 50% of them were infected and many died from the disease, while the Southern boys were somewhat resistant. This apparently contributed to McClelleans tendency to be slow and I suppose plagued the Union for the rest of the War; Virginia being a hotbed for Malaria then as well.
Interesting that a disease I associate with Africa and the Pacific was endemic to Europe and also explains my surprise why we got to take Malaria pills when we occupied the Tigres-Euphraties region of Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. That was one nasty pill. Not as bad as getting shot for Plague, but way worse than for Covid-19.
Anyway, just thought I'd share this knowledge that was new to me...
Well, I'm reading, among many other things, 1493, by Chales C. Mann discussing events after Columbus came to America initiating the "Columbian Exchange" between the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Malaria was apparently unknown in the America's be we had the right sort of mosquito's to carry it. There may have been animal variants around but nothing that previously affected the natives much. However, like Zombies, it only takes one infected person to trigger the disease and a mosquito to bite him.
smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004G606EY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_image_o00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Malaria was all over Europe at the time (including to my surprise) England. At any rate, someone with Malaria was with Columbus and it was let loose in the New World and contributed to the die off of the Native Population, requiring Slaves, and blah blah blah.
So now we fast forward to the Revolution and we find that after Cowpens, Cornwalis retreated to Yorktown which was apparently a hotbed of malarial activity and for some reason, the British soliders were about 50% infected and debilitated by the disease, perhaps in addition to the French Navy and Army, helped us win the Revolutionary War.
Moving forward to the Civil War, the boyrs from the North were not much exposed to Malaria because the disease does not fare well when the temperature gets below 66 - 72 degrees. But when the Army of the Potomic was concentrated in Washington D.C. (a region rife with malaria) and then when it further deployed toware Richmond (more Malaria) about 50% of them were infected and many died from the disease, while the Southern boys were somewhat resistant. This apparently contributed to McClelleans tendency to be slow and I suppose plagued the Union for the rest of the War; Virginia being a hotbed for Malaria then as well.
Interesting that a disease I associate with Africa and the Pacific was endemic to Europe and also explains my surprise why we got to take Malaria pills when we occupied the Tigres-Euphraties region of Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. That was one nasty pill. Not as bad as getting shot for Plague, but way worse than for Covid-19.
Anyway, just thought I'd share this knowledge that was new to me...