In 1678 Boston built the first community pest-house, a practice followed by all other colonial towns by the time of the American Revolution. The earliest quarantine law was enacted in 1647 by the colony of MA. because of the fear of yellow fever arriving from the island of St. Christopher. MA. enacted another quarantine measure in 1665 at the height of the Great Plague in London to protect itself from importing this dreaded disease. Disinfection was usually carried out by means of burning the belongings, and sometimes the homes, of sick individuals in the community.