During the rainy season the oppressive air was always 100 percent humidity. The moisture made breathing difficult for workers. Tools and weapons made of steel or iron rusted completely within a day. Anything made of leather rotted with mold and clothes were never dry. Dense vegetation made transporting men and supplies difficult, but also housed another problem. Many workers fell victim to the bite of venomous species of animals that thrived in the jungle.
The most tragic and shocking problems on the canal were the newly encountered disease epidemics in the jungles of Panama. Malaria and yellow fever, the dreaded killers French physicians were unable treat or even find the cause of took the lives of an estimated 10-20 percent of canal workers each year! 3 Yellow fever always came with the rainy season, which lasted from July to November. Symptoms began with shivering, high fever, and an unbelievable thirst. Soon the face and eyes would turn yellow, and the victim would ache throughout his entire body. After a day had elapsed, sporadic vomiting of dark blood and violent spasms would commence. Next the fits would cease, and the body would quickly grow cold and die. More than half the people who came down with the frightful disease died.
Malaria worked in similar fashion to yellow fever. However, Malaria was present throughout the year. Though not known at the time, malaria was carried by mosquitoes that thrived in the many stagnant pools of water in the swampy jungles of Panama. Quinine powder, taken in high doses prevents the symptoms, but the horrible taste led workers not to take enough if any at all. .
As a result of the engineering mishaps, climate, and diseases surrounding the French operation, the French were forced to give up, abandoning their equipment, roads, and buildings to the hostility of the rainforest.
The engineering defeat of the French created a golden opportunity for the United States.
