Typhoid fever has swept across the country since the early 1600's. However, the first affective vaccine for this fever was not discovered until the 1890's by a man named Almroth Edward Wright. With no vaccine in the 1830's, this was not only a conagious sickness but also a deadly disease during the years in which Middle March takes place. When Fred is wrongly diagnosed and then later diagnosed with typhoid fever, you can only imagine the anger/fear his mother feels and why she quickly chooses to name Lydgate as their new family doctor over Mr. Wrench. There was no information yet on how this sickness was spreading so fast, nor on how to prevent it. In the 1830's an English Doctor by the name of William Budd treated an outbreak of typhoid where he noted that the bacteria causing this fever could be transmitted to healthy people through the consumption of contaminated water. He also reccomended a strict isolation or quarentine method to prevent outbreaks, much like the reccomendations with covid today. This discovery was the first major breakthrough in uncovering a treatment for typhoid fever which was wiping so many individuals out and gaining cases every day.
In the 1830's having a reletive or close friend come down with typhoid fever has to be one of the most frightening things to experience. With not much information on how this fever travels you have no idea what to expect or how to help a person you care about who has been diagnosed with typhoid. Along with the fear of being exposed to it yourself, there has not yet been a vaccine discovered so the outcome is unknown.
Citations
Smith, Yolanda. “Typhoid Fever History.” News, 23 Aug. 2018, www.news-medical.net/health/Typhoid-Fever-History.aspx.
“Typhoid Fever.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_fever.
“Industrial Health Poster: Typhoid Fever: Poster.” Wisconsin Historical Society, 1 Dec. 2003, www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM49022.