The Most Notable Historical Figures Who Were Killed By Insects
Humans have always had to struggle against the spread of insect-borne diseases. Some of the most devastating disease epidemics in history were spread by insects. For example, fleas were instrumental in the spread of the plague, which killed around one third of the European population at the time. For people living before the advent of modern medicine, the possibility of dying from insect-borne disease was far from remote. Deaths resulting from insect bites were simply a fact of life during the greater part of human history. This is why it is not surprising to learn that some of history’s most notable figures suffered from insect-borne diseases.
One of the most popular historical figures that suffered from an insect-borne disease was George Washington, America’s most memorable founding father. There is much controversy surrounding George Washington’s death. There exists dubious rumors about the various unconventional medical treatments that Washington supposedly endured in order to treat a host of different ailments. Despite the richly detailed stories that we often hear about Washington’s health, few people are aware of the fact that Washington suffered from bouts of pain that stemmed from his malaria. When Washington was a college graduate at the age of seventeen he went to work as a surveyor in Virginia. At the time, Virginia was covered in swamps that contained malaria-carrying mosquitoes. It was during this time that Washington sustained bites from these infected mosquitoes. Washington suffered from the disease until his death in 1799.
Napoleon’s most trusted General, Victor Emmanuel LeClerc, died of yellow fever after sustaining bites from infected Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes in Haiti. Some historians believe that LeClerc’s death ultimately resulted in Napoleon’s forced abandonment of American colonies. Charles Darwin also may have contracted a disease from an assassin bug in Argentina during his historic trip to the Galapagos Islands. In an effort to learn more about the interesting insect, Darwin had his ship’s crew hold the insect in order to observe its bite. Darwin himself reportedly acquired chagas disease after deliberately sustaining an assassin bug bite in the name of scientific inquiry.
Given the threat that disease-carrying insects once posed to humanity, do you believe that our ancestors thought about insects more often than we do today?