Yellow fever is incurable and can only be prevented via vaccination. In 1793, those who could afford to left the cities to avoid outbreaks. For the unfortunate victims of the disease, treatments included bed rest, efforts to purify the air, and quarantine. Dr. Benjamin Rush recorded his unsuccessful efforts to treat yellow fever, which included:
administering shaved tree bark with wine, brandy, and aromatics such as ginger or cinnamon, as well sweating the fever out by coating a patient's body with a thick salve of herbs and chemicals, and he even tried wrapping the whole body in a blanket of warm vinegar.
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