Cuban fever
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cuban fever (or calentura) was a popular name for a recurring form of tropical fever, sometimes accompanied by acute delirium.[1] In 1898, a pathologist established that Cuban fever was a variety of malaria.[2]
The term "Cuban fever" was coined by Nashville Doctor Alexander McCall in his 1845 letter to the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, describing a very protracted form of "erysipelatous fever" he had observed in Brazil, Cuba, and the Yucatan Peninsula.[3] In 1860 social reformer and author Julia Ward Howe described a condition she observed in a Cuban prison as Cuban fever.[4]
American troop infections in Cuba and the Philippines
The phrase was revived in the Spanish–American War to refer to a fever prevalent in Cuba and the Philippines,[1] that attacked many of the American troops during the War or shortly after their return.[2] It generally began with a chill and a body temperature of 103 °F. As the temperature rose higher, muscular pains began, with headache, loss of appetite, nausea, and marked weakness.[1] Many patients spontaneously recovered within a week.[1] However, the symptoms would often recur, sometimes daily, and sometimes at intervals of days or weeks.[5] U.S. Army Major General William Rufus Shafter was repeatedly sidelined with Cuban fever after he returned home.[6]