as a result, most of the meat arriving in cuba was found to be so poorly preserved, chemically adulterated, and/or spoiled that it was toxic and dangerous to consume. the meat caused an unrecorded number of illnesses and death from dysentery and food poisoning, having an especially deadly effect on the thousands already weakened by the epidemics of malaria and yellow fever which were ravaging the unprotected american troops and would eventually kill twice as many men as combat with the spanish. since yellow fever frequently causes symptoms similar to bacterial food poisoning (fever, vomiting, severe and/or bloody diarrhea), little connection was made at the time between illness and consumption of the chicago beef.