Local historian Derby Gisclair will talk about “Epidemics That Shaped New Orleans” at 7 p.m. Sept. 18 at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie.
Gisclair says that the city is still feeling the effects of the COVID pandemic that took nearly 18,000 lives throughout the state. However, he says, during its 300-plus-year history, there have been many diseases that have ravaged New Orleans.
Smallpox: Between 1863 and 1882, smallpox killed about 6,450 New Orleanians. Around a third of those with smallpox didn’t survive. At its worst, the disease brought a pox-covered demise to about 1 in 11 people, for a total of hundreds of millions of victims throughout its deadly history.
Malaria: It killed as many as one in 556 people in the city during its peak, not surprising considering all the swamps and humidity in the area. Malaria is caused by one of several parasites of the Plasmodium family that are carried by mosquitoes…