Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878 and National Board of Health (1879-1883)

“ It was the professional duty of each public health official to maintain the equilibrium between public health and commercial prosperity that was most beneficial to his locality; yet the National Board of Health’s rude imposition of a uniform quarantine code rendered such local flexibility impossible and eliminated this aspect of the local professional’s role. The nationalistic attitude of the federal board was irreconcilably at odds with the localistic orientation of coastal public health authorities , both in the North and South” (Humphreys, 74). . . . Public health officials of interior states and municipalities generally found that the National Board’s activities substantially bolstered their inadequate defenses against yellow fever . . . Southern coastal authorities mostly viewed the National Board In negative terms, for its work appeared to nullify rather than strength, their ability to perform their professional duties” (76).