In thebook Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder vividly recounts a harrowing chapter in her family’s life, titled “Fever ‘n’ Ague,” where the entire Ingalls family falls gravely ill. This episode of sickness is now understood to be malaria, a disease transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes, a stark contrast to the mysterious and misunderstood ailment it was considered at the time.
Leading up to their illness, the family had spent time berry picking, a seemingly innocent and routine activity. However, Laura describes in detail the severe mosquito bites they all endured during their outing. Pa, usually a picture of resilience, was so badly bitten that he couldn’t even muster the strength to play his beloved fiddle. Laura herself wasn’t spared either; she poignantly recalls how her forehead was “speckled with mosquito bites,” an image that underscores the intensity of the mosquito onslaught. Although berry picking was primarily Laura and Pa’s task—ensuring the family would have dried blackberries to stew during the harsh winter months—the relentless mosquitoes would invade their home on windless nights, leaving no one safe from their bites.
It’s unclear whether Pa fully understood the danger posed by these mosquitoes beyond their irritating bites – at least danger that was commonly known at the time. He did, however, take measures to protect his family by lighting smudge fires around their home, hoping the smoke would keep the pests at bay. Yet, this practice, while offering some relief, was not enough to prevent the devastating illness that would soon strike.
Ma, ever cautious, refused to let the girls eat any watermelon, believing it was the cause of their sickness. Pa, on the other hand, attributed their ailment to breathing in the night air, another common misconception of the time. It wasn’t until much later, as Laura notes in a reflective aside at the end of the chapter, that it was revealed their sickness was actually malaria, a revelation that connected their suffering to the very mosquitoes they had battled during the summer.
In the midst of their illness, the Ingalls family was cared for by a figure who would become significant in their lives, a “Dr. Tan,” whom Laura mentions in the chapter. This was in fact Dr. George A. Tann, a compassionate physician who treated both settlers and Native Americans in the region where the Ingalls had built their little house on the prairie. Dr. Tann not only played a critical role in nursing the family back to health during this episode of fever and chills, but he also delivered Baby Carrie when she was born, further entwining his story with that of the Ingalls family.
