"Diphtheria prevails to no
little extent in Geneva ,
although there have been but few fatal cases." This brief notice in the October 4, 1878 Geneva Gazette marks the first mention of what would come to be one
of the worst epidemics in the community's history. By April 1879 at least 75
people, mostly children, lost their lives. Over 400 of the village's residents
fell ill with the disease between September and March 1879. Whole families
became sick, and a few parents lost all of their children to the disease. Some
people had relatively mild cases, but others had the particularly frightening
"membraneous" type, in which a thick gray substance formed over the
throat causing the victim to gasp and choke when breathing.
Window in St. Peter’s Episcopal Church tower dedicated to the ten members of the Sunday School class who died in the diphtheria epidemic. |
Most
Americans today have no experience with this disease, which has been largely
eliminated in the west due to vaccination. Symptoms include a sore throat,
fever, chills and swollen glands. The illness itself is not deadly, but the
diphtheria bacteria can produce a deadly toxin that causes heart damage, nerve
damage, paralysis, and lung infection. It is one of many ailments that is
particularly devastating to children, but can kill anyone, even those who have
had it before.
Aside
from dealing with the fear that normally accompanies a disease epidemic,
Genevans in 1878 also had no understanding of the cause of diphtheria, nor any
real defense against it. The scientific revolution in medicine was just
beginning in Europe , and medicine was not yet
synonymous with science. Particularly in the United States , there were almost no
standards for medical education, nor were there standards for diagnosing
disease. Any sore throat could be labeled diphtheria, particularly by an
inexperienced doctor. Doctors were free to follow any treatments they believed
worked, and they relied on personal observation and experience, rather than
evidence, to diagnose and treat illness. As a result, theories of disease
causation and treatment varied from the reasonable to the ridiculous.
Some believed open drains, dirt roads and streets strewn with manure caused the 1878 diphtheria epidemic. |
One
popular theory circulating in the late 19th-century posited that sewage and
filth caused disease. "Filth" could refer to human and animal
excrement, trash, swampy land, or rotting plant or vegetable matter.
Recognition that water supplies were connected to the spread of diseases like
typhoid and cholera led people to conclude that many other ailments resulted
from water and air contaminants. One headline in the Geneva Gazette during the epidemic read "Malarial Disease and
Its Remedy." The article went on to decry that "Geneva
is deplorably defective in sewerage. Without it many people have been
accustomed to drain into several little open streams which have their outlets
into the lake and canal." The newspapers were full of letters and
editorials on the danger of open drains and piles of dead leaves, and the need
for a sanitary sewer and safe water system. A sewer system might have prevented
waterborne diseases, but would have done nothing to stop the spread of
diphtheria, which is transmitted by airborne secretions or contaminated items,
like utensils or clothing.
The boards leading from |
There
was some recognition that the disease could be passed from one person to
another, but there was no quarantine in effect. By late October, the village
Board of Health made several regulations to try to control the spread of the
disease, declaring that "The body of
every person who has died of diphtheria or scarlet fever, shall be immediately
enclosed in an air-tight coffin..." and "No person shall enter any house where there is a case of
diphtheria or scarlet fever, unless invited for the purpose of assistance...and
no visit shall be made after death..." It did not help that many
victims had mild infections, and people assumed the mild form was not as
communicable as the "malignant" form. In all likelihood, this
difference in severity was not due to the infection itself, but whether or not
the diphtheria bacteria had produced its deadly toxin.
Druggist
E. Maynard in a mid-November article advocated
"the unceasing use of disinfectants
in the sick-room and in every room adjoining, and every vessel, slop-jar, etc.,
etc. that shall contain any secretion of the sick." He went on to
recommend burying all clothing or bed clothes that came in contact with
discharges from the patient's mouth and washing clothes in carbolic acid. These
precautions probably did help prevent transmission of the disease. On the other
hand, the next article advocated gargling with kerosene oil as a cure. Many
people recognized their helplessness in the face of this disease, "confess[ing] that when [diphtheria]
advances to a certain stage, poisoning the blood in the arteries and veins, a
cure is impossible."
List of Deaths, |
Among
the dead were dry goods merchant George Seelye and his only two children. His
wife survived. Civil War veteran Dr. Calvin H. Carpenter, while treating
patients with the disease, watched it take his own 11-year old son before he
himself fell ill. The doctor's brother then died of it. Three other village
doctors also saw their children die. African-American Charles Gates lost his
6-year old daughter Lena May. Machinist Mathew
Easterbrook died at 54 years old. Several Hobart
students fell ill and the college closed for two weeks. One went home to Syracuse to die there. A
sales agent for the Geneva Courier
who had just moved from Bellona fled back there with his children, only to
watch them both die.
Matthew Easterbrook. |
Then
in December new cases slowed. From 10-15 deaths a week, losses fell to two or
three, then one or two a month. People had no explanation and turned to
religion for consolation. Said one mother, "I was distracted when my Bessie went but now I am calm. Bessie and
Gracie are together, and safe, safe from every danger."
The
village began to examine the cost and methods of creating a sanitary water and
sewer system, but the cost was high and many did not think it worthwhile. Over
the next decade village voters rejected plans to fund a sewer system multiple
times. The community continued to use Castle Creek as an open drain and
deposited sewage in Seneca Lake . It would be
more than twenty years until the city created a sewer system--about the same
time the diphtheria bacteria was identified and an
anti-toxin and vaccine were developed, finally preventing the countless deaths
caused by the disease.
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