Aftermath: quarantine, philanthropy, and debate

In response to the 1793 epidemic, the Philadelphia Lazaretto, a quarantine hospital, was built in 1799. Philadelphia native Anne Parrish devoted herself to philanthropy after the epidemic, founding the Female Society for the Relief of the Distressed in 1795. The rapid succession of later yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia and elsewhere in the northeastern United States inspired many accounts of efforts to contain, control, and cope with the disease. In 1881, Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay argued that mosquito bites caused yellow fever, crediting Rush's published account of the 1793 epidemic for giving him the idea.