The Australian Plague Locust Commission (APLC)

The American Plague, Molly Caldwell Crosby’s nonfiction novel, accounts the journey of yellow fever from an African virus to the remarkably deadly epidemic that shaped American history in an often overlooked way. Crosby’s novel aims to give insight to the historical impact of yellow fever in the Americas, especially the United States. The novel guides through the history of the titular “American Plague”, yellow fever, in three main parts: its height epidemic in the United States, specifically in Memphis, the Commission to find the cause and vaccine for it, in Cuba, and the effects and presence the epidemic has in the present.

In order to preserve the existence of birds in our environment, the government should generally integrate crop management techniques. These methods include; selective pesticides, avoiding spraying in during breeding season and when crops and weeds are in flower, and then minimise spray drift or creation of headlands. When these methods are put into practice, they can help minimize unwanted effects of pesticides on farmland birds.

The American Plague was written by Molly C. Crosby, who is as much as a researcher as she is an author. In 1648, a slave ship returning from Africa carried a few mosquitoes infected with a deadly virus know as yellow fever. The ship landed in the New World and thrived in the hot wet climate and on the white settlers. The New World has never come in contact with yellow fever and as a result no immunities have been built up. The virus obtained its name from the way it turns the victim’s skin and eyes a golden yellow. Victims also suffer from very high fevers, external and internal bleeding, and blackish vomit. In America yellow fever killed thousands of peoples, halted trade, and disrupted the government. Although many

Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) (Winter 1992). Malathion Insecticide Factsheet. Journal of Pesticide Reform 12(4). Retrieved May 4, 2008, from

In August of last year, an adult in Pueblo County, Colorado succumbed to the bubonic plague. The Health Department did not specify who it was, just saying that it was an adult. This was the first case of someone contracting the plague in Pueblo County since 2004. It is thought that the person caught the disease from fleas on a dead animal. According to the CDC, about seven people every year contract the plague in the United States.

While reading An American Plague, I noticed an interesting detail that so many people were dying at the beginning of the fever according to Murphy (2003) “ On wednesday twelve more died; thirteen died on Thursday. Others besides the doctors were beginning to notice the illness. “ . I wonder if there was or is any way of preventing the fever from happening . According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) it states that you should beware of mosquitoes peaking hours from dusk to dawn . Also it states to use insect repellent with picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptus on exposed skin . Also there is a vaccination from it , but the (CDC) recommends not getting that vaccination only if you are going where risk of the yellow

In the early 1940’s, a new technology emerged that was able to successfully combat crop-damaging and disease-carrying insects. A new age of synthetic chemical pesticides use arose. After their impressive success in fighting deadly insect-borne diseases during World War II, pesticides were used widely to combat insect pests for agriculture and public health. Few people challenged the benefits of the new scientific and technological products and many embraced pesticide use with enthusiasm. Despite its success, doubts about pesticide use began to appear a decade later in the 1950’s, when the government began a vigorous pesticide campaign across the country against insect pests. Scientists began reporting heavy losses of avian and

A Utah man in his seventies died from a plague, making this the 4th fatal case this year in the United States. The “Plague” usually occurs in semi-rural regions and is rather common in states like, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Bacteria called, Yersinia Pestis, cause Plague. The bacteria are naturally occurring and are usually found in areas where there are wild rodents present. Rodents like, chipmunks, squirrels, and rats, which are animals that are common in Utah, can infect fleas with the bacteria and that can be easily transmitted to humans by a flea bite.

UC IPM. (2011, June). Statewide integrated pest management program. Retrieved July 2015, from Sampling with a sweep net: www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r1900311.html

The Aboriginal people are presented as inhuman. Scabby Bill in particular has a description which implies that he was not human in the eyes of the Thornhill family. “He was the same as the ants or the flies, a hazard of the place that had to be dealt with.” This implies that Scabby Bill was a problem towards the Thornhills. He was an existent pesterer which the Thornhills could not do anything about. Therefore, he is not recognised as a human, but an insect which are pests to humans. Scabby Bill being perceived as an insect exhibits the amount of racism towards the Aboriginal people. “same as the ants or the flies, a hazard” Scabby Bill is compared with insects that are killed on a daily basis. Comparison between the Aboriginal people and ants

For maximum dung burial in spring, summer and autumn, farmers need a variety of species of beetles coinciding with periods of activity. In the colder areas of the state Victoria, the large Austrian species, which is usually 3.0 cms long, is matched with smaller, around half of its size; sub-tropical Australian species. The Austrian species beetles are less adaptable to cold weather, so are slow to recover from the winter cold and produce only two or three generations of offspring from late spring until autumn. The Australian beetles, which multiply rapidly in early spring, give birth to three to five generations annually. The French species is a temperate-climate beetle, so it prefers the climate of northern and coastal areas of Victoria and

Accurate thresholds are unavailable a good reference is the amount of damage occurring and wether its feasible to use insecticides.

The first article chosen to review is ‘Population dynamics of house mice in Queensland grain- growing areas, 2013, Wildlife Research, 40, 661–674 by Anthony Pople, Joe Scanlan, Peter Cremasco, and Julianne Farrell’. This article focuses on the population field mice in the Darling Downs. This region of Australia is an extremely arable district in south eastern Queensland that has lost the majority of its native vegetation cover to agriculture (Fensham and Fairfax, 1997). The theme of this ecological topic demonstrates how a population of a species can increase due to the availability of food, and the methods to reduce numbers via poison baiting.

While reading An American Plague, I noticed an interesting detail that even after all of the white people became sick and weren’t able to take care of themselves the black caretakers began showing symptoms of the yellow fever later than everyone else. Murphy (2003) said that after taking care of the ill white people many of them began showing symptoms of the Yellow Fever. This detail led me to wonder whether african american people had a strong immune system than that of a white person. According to Eurweb (2016) In a study completed by both U.S. and Canadian researchers Luis Barreira drew white blood cells from 175 Americans. 80 of them were African American. The researchers then infected those white blood cells with Listeria and Salmonella.

Some insects in Africa can damage crops that give us food and DDT can put a