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After scientists confirmed that mosquitoes can transmit yellow fever and other diseases, mosquito control emerged as an important public health measure. Discover how Americans have managed mosquitoes at home and abroad through this selection of items from the NLM collection.

A photo of a shed covered in cloths with smoke billowing from an opening created by 3 men pulling back cloth to look inside

Fumigation of sheds in New Orleans, yellow fever campaign, 1905

Courtesy National Library of Medicine

US Public Health Service employees used substances like tobacco, sulphur, and lime to control insects and check the spread of disease. New Orleans’ 1905 outbreak was the last yellow fever epidemic in the United States.


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