[The yellow fever epidemic in Saint-Nazaire in 1861].

In 1861, a brief epidemic of Yellow Fever made 26 dead among 44 sick persons. Because of the lack of knowledge in bacteriological origins it was impossible to link the illness to the role in the transmission of the virus by insects. Chiefly it was impossible to understand why the people on the shore were hit while some sailors leaving the boat were not? Why some people living to leeward of the ship were touched? Thus Melier championed the concept of transmission by an agent carried by the atmosphere. Without scientific epidemiological knowledge he was able to bring out some wise pre-emptive measures.