(Note: The following is part of a series of columns looking at the establishment and growth of doctors, hospitals and the health industry in Georgia and Bulloch County.)

    Savannah, being a port city, had built a marine quarantine station at the mouth of the Savannah River near Lazaretto Creek on Tybee Island as part of the United States Marine Hospital Service.
    Opened in 1893, Savannah’s marine quarantine station was the second busiest in the nation after that of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was most busy during the years of the Spanish-American War of 1898.
    Savannah’s station was responsible for "clearing" returning American troops, many of whom had already been briefly examined at the Dry Tortugas Station for obvious symptoms of yellow fever.
    They had established a detention camp on Daufuskie Island for troops examined at the station’s hospital facility who were suspected of being sick. They also inspected all foreign ships before allowing them to enter the harbor.
    Those ships needing disinfection were escorted to Sapelo Island. Most vessels determined to need disinfection were coming from Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo and Cuba, as well as many South and Central American countries.
    Yellow fever first appeared in America in Philadelphia and New York in 1668. Its name came from the yellow color of the patient’s skin. Nicknamed "Yellow Jack," it attacked the heart, lungs and kidney.
    The medical community named it "Cum Nigro Vomito," or "With Black Vomit." Savannah physician Richard D. Arnold wrote, "in yellow fever … a person may be (running) about in the morning and quite ill in the evening."
    Along with the appearance of the "Black Vomit," symptoms of patients in the final stages varied widely. Savannah Dr. Louis A. Falligant reported on the behavior of two of his patients: a 9-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy. The girl's "frequent shrill screams, and snappish, passionate utterances could be heard all around the neighborhood." The boy "rolled and tossed, and groaned like a young man I once saw under the influence of a rattlesnake bite."
    Worst of all, the first batch of cases were almost always fatal, meaning that the bodies had started stacking up before people even began to suspect that they were experiencing a yellow fever epidemic.
    In one week, the patient was either dead or had recovered. Doctors believed yellow fever was spread three ways: "Urban" (person to person); "Jungle" (animal to human); and "Savannah" (either way).
               
    Roger Allen is a local lover of history. Allen provides a brief look each week at the area's past. Email Roger at rwasr1953@gmail.com.