The Masque Of The Red Death Summary

After reading the article, “Ebola-Poe: A Modern-Day Parallel of the Red Death?" by Setu K.Vora and Sundaram V. Ramanan, I believe that the deadly disease described in "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe, also known as the "Red Death", resembles the symptoms of Tuberculosis more closely than the symptoms of hemorrhagic fevers. Poe describes the symptoms of the "Red Death" by stating that "Blood was its avatar and seal-the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution." According to the article, by Poe stating that "The 'Red Death' had long devastated the country," it is implied that this disease is one that is "epidemic, ongoing or reemerging."

The article then goes on to give a list of other diseases that may truly be the "Red Death". One disease listed is known as yellow fever. The disease killed somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 people in the United States from 1693 and 1905 according to the article. The areas that Poe resided in were affected by this disease until 1822. However, Poe wrote "The Masque of the Red Death" in 1841 and Poe said the disease was one that highly affected the population. By the time Poe wrote the work, the disease was no longer relevant. In addition, the article goes on to state that "Poe's red death, however, has a much higher death rate and communicability" meaning that Yellow Fever cannot be the disease that the "Red Death" represents. Another statement made by the passage is that "Poe's description of the red death is in line with the clinical features of filovirus hemorrhagic fevers, which include Ebola and Marburg." However, the authors then go on to state that "However, writing in 1840, Poe could not have known about Ebola or