Cuban fever (or calentura) was a popular name for a recurring form of tropical fever, sometimes accompanied by acute

delirium Delirium (formerly acute confusional state, an ambiguous term that is now discouraged) is a specific state of acute confusion attributable to the direct physiological consequence of a medical condition, effects of a psychoactive substance, or ...

.3 New International Encyclopaedia
p. 758 (Gilman, Peck, & Colby eds. 1902) In 1898, a pathologist established that Cuban fever was a variety of

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

.''The International Year Book 1898''
p. 242–43 (Colby & Peck eds. 1899).

Coining of the term

The term "Cuban fever" was coined by

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Doctor Alexander McCall in his 1845 letter to the ''Boston Medical and Surgical Journal'', describing a very protracted form of " erysipelatous fever" he had observed in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, and the Yucatan Peninsula. In 1860 social reformer and author

Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe ( ; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as new lyrics to an existing song, and the original 1870 pacifist Mothers' Day Proclamation. She w ...

described a condition she observed in a Cuban prison as Cuban fever.

American troop infections in Cuba and the Philippines

The phrase was revived in the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

to refer to a fever prevalent in Cuba and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, that attacked many of the American troops during the War or shortly after their return. It generally began with a chill and a body temperature of . As the temperature rose higher, muscular pains began, with headache, loss of appetite, nausea, and marked weakness. Many patients spontaneously recovered within a week. However, the symptoms would often recur, sometimes daily, and sometimes at intervals of days or weeks.Letter to the Editor, "Chronic Cuban Fever,"
''New York Times'', p. 6, 1899-03-22. U.S. Army Major General

William Rufus Shafter William Rufus Shafter (October 16, 1835 – November 12, 1906) was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War who received America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Fair Oaks. Shafte ...

was repeatedly sidelined with Cuban fever after he returned home.

Retrospective diagnosis

In an effort to establish a

retrospective diagnosis A retrospective diagnosis (also retrodiagnosis or posthumous diagnosis) is the practice of identifying an illness after the death of the patient (sometimes a historical figure) using modern knowledge, methods and disease classifications. Alternati ...

, pathologist James Ewing of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

studied blood samples of 800 patients with the disease, and found that 80 percent of the cases of Cuban fever were of the aestiva-autumnal type of malarial fever, and the remaining 20 percent were tertian malaria.

Long-term infection of Theodore Roosevelt

After leading the "

Rough Riders The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish–American War and the only one to see combat. The United States Army was small, understaffed, and diso ...

" of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry in the Spanish–American War, Colonel

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

, like many of his troops, was diagnosed with Cuban fever.Edmund Morris, ''Theodore Rex: 1901–1909'', p. 377 (2001), . Although Roosevelt's doctors were treating it with drugs, the fever continued to recur long after he left the Army, before, during, and after his presidency. The second part of Edmund Morris's 2001 biography of Roosevelt explains that, when experiencing the effects of the disease, the President was discovered outside of his cabin late at night, "completely disoriented", pacing in the snow in his bare feet, holding his hunting dog Skip to his chest.Morris, ''Theodore Rex: 1901–1909'', p. 382–83.

References

{{reflist, 2 Malaria Spanish–American War 1840s neologisms Delirium Tropical diseases Theodore Roosevelt