1847 North American typhus epidemic

The typhus epidemic of 1847 was an outbreak of epidemic typhus caused by a massive Irish emigration in 1847, during the Great Famine, aboard crowded and disease-ridden "coffin ships".

In Canada, it is estimated that more than 20,000 people died during the epidemic. There was already a quarantine station in Grosse Isle, Quebec, created in 1832 to contain a cholera epidemic. It was reused to contain typhus victims which were transported there by ships. The island was quickly overwhelmed by an ever-growing population, with many new arrivals left lying on the ground without shelter. As well as a shortage of accommodation, there was a serious lack of medical personnel to care for the sick. The island failed to recruit volunteer nurses, due to the poor working conditions offered to the nursing staff.

In Montreal, a quarantine area was set up Windmill Point. Due to a lack of suitable preparations, typhus soon reached epidemic proportions in Montreal. Grey Nuns represented most of the medical personnel, assisted by priests. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Montreal attempted to recruit volunteer workers among French-speaking Québécois people. Many of the people who arrived in Montreal to help were simply interested in adopting the orphaned children of the victims, instead of providing medical assistance. In Toronto, only 863 Irish immigrants died of typhus. The most prominent casualty of the epidemic in the city was the first Bishop of Toronto, Michael Power, who had provided care and ministering to the immigrants. Meanwhile in New York City, the epidemic's mortality rate was 11%.