Essay
Colonial Disease Ecology Before the Revolution
Smallpox, measles, malaria, diphtheria, enteric disease, and vector-borne fevers in early British North America before the Revolution.
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colonial disease ecology
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By Devin Teichrow. Published February 14, 2026.
Overview
Smallpox, measles, malaria, diphtheria, enteric disease, and vector-borne fevers in early British North America before the Revolution.
British North America during the pre-revolutionary war period was a region of fluctuating disease ecology shaped by repeated incursions of smallpox, measles, diphtheria, enteric infections (the nice way of saying feces got in their mouths somehow), and vector-borne fevers.
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https://theedgeofepidemiology.substack.com/p/disease-in-the-early-colonies-pre
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