logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2024
30m 8s

The Deadly Puzzle of Yellow Fever (Repla...

The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
About this episode
HISTORY This Week returns with new episodes starting September 16th! In the meantime, listen to a favorite classic from the archives.August 27, 1900. Dr. Jesse Lazear, a U.S. Army surgeon, walks into Las Animas Hospital Yellow Fever ward in Havana, Cuba, toting a brood of mosquitos. He has the system down: remove the cotton stopper that keeps the mosquito pe ... Show More
Up next
Today
9/11: Rescue on the Water
September 11, 2001. On a clear and sunny day, Captain Richard Thornton is piloting his ferry boat back and forth between New Jersey and New York City. But when he hears an airplane flying too low to the ground, he knows something is wrong. After the World Trade Center’s North Tow ... Show More
26m 36s
Aug 31
The Radium Girls Fight Back
September 12, 1922. Twenty-four-year-old Mollie Maggia has a toothache. In less than a year, this otherwise healthy young woman will be dead. Others like her will soon follow. They’d all shared what seemed to be a dream job: applying glow-in-the-dark paint to clock faces. The pai ... Show More
34m 33s
Aug 28
Free preview: How Las Vegas Made America a Gambling Nation (HTW+)
A five-minute taste of our full interview on how Las Vegas became Las Vegas. Subscribe to HTW+ to hear the rest at htwpod.com or in your Apple Podcasts app. 
6m 5s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2024
The Human Guinea Pigs of Camp Lazear
Young doctor Jesse Lazear has deadly Yellow Fever. He thrashes around and convulses in his sick bed, and his vomit is black. He is just 34 when he dies. Curiously, mosquito expert Lazear was researching the disease when he became ill. Some historians think his infection wasn't an ... Show More
40m 17s
May 2021
The Disappearing Spoon: When Mosquitoes Cured Insanity
tail spinning
17m 18s
Aug 2025
Episode 286: Lazarus
One of the most intriguing topics throughout history has infectious disease and the way we handle it. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by GennaRose Nethercott, research by Cassandra de Alba, and music by Chad Lawson. ————————— Lore Resources: Episode Music: lor ... Show More
36m 46s
Jul 2018
36 - Filth Parties
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The southern United States was hit by a dramatic epidemic of a mysterious disease called pellagra in the early twentieth century. This episode discusses the cultural and scientific sources of the outbreak -- from the cotton fields of the south, ... Show More
51m 45s
Feb 2022
147. Disease, the New World and modern pandemics
How devastating were European arrivals to the Americas in terms of deaths and the introduction of new infectious diseases? Tom and Dominic are joined by Professor Kyle Harper from the University of Oklahoma to discuss the relationship between disease and colonial expansion, the ... Show More
39m 47s
Jan 2023
SYMHC Classics: Walter Reed
This 2014 episode covers Reed’s truly groundbreaking work into the causes and prevention of yellow fever, building on a foundation of other doctors and researchers. His work impacted public health and the American military's ability to work in tropical locations.See omnystudio.co ... Show More
25m 51s
Aug 2020
Typhus Pt. 1
In the sixteenth century, sporadic outbreaks of a deadly fever crippled armies and altered the political landscape of Western Europe. Centuries later, a British surgeon reshaped the world’s understanding of how disease spread—and uncovered the key to fighting typhus. Learn more a ... Show More
45m 3s
Nov 2020
S3 Ep5: History of Pandemics: Smallpox, and Jenner
Welcome to the eighteenth century, at a point when Europe is going through another major smallpox outbreak, a disease that by this point has been plaguing populations around the globe for centuries. Peter will discover why milkmaids may be to central to the story of vaccination, ... Show More
43m 22s
Dec 2021
Ep 86 Typhus: Another lousy episode
<p>We’re back with our first episode of Season 5, and we’re starting off with a bang! Epidemic typhus, that friend of war and famine, may have caused more wartime deaths than all battles combined, and though it may seem like a disease relegated to the past, typhus only needs a mi ... Show More
1h 49m
Mar 2020
History Matters
In the wake of the coronavirus, what lessons can be learned from past viral outbreaks? CNN Chief Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta turns to Dr. Howard Markel, a professor of historical medicine, for key context. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cn ... Show More
9m 10s