Epidemics Of The 19th Century - 2267 Words

Epidemics of the 19th century were faced without the improved medical technologies that made the 20th and 21st-century epidemics rare and less lethal. It was in the 18th century that micro-organisms (viruses and bacteria) were discovered, but it was not until the late 19th century that the experiments of Lazzaro Spallanzani and Louis Pasteur disagreed with the spontaneous generation argument conclusively, crediting the germ theory and Robert Koch s discovery of micro-organisms as the cause of disease transmission. Therefore, throughout the majority of the 19th century, there was only the most basic, understanding of the causes, amelioration and treatment of epidemic disease. Creation of factories, which played a major role in mass production of goods, led to the rapid growth of towns. People, sensing the numerous job opportunities, flooded the towns from their different country sides. Towns quickly became overcrowded and did not have adequate social amenities to cater for their already large and growing population. Without important amenities such as proper drainage, clean living habitats due to the overcrowding and clean drinking water the 19th-century cities were sanctuaries for diseases such as typhoid, tuberculosis and cholera. It was during a cholera research outbreak in 1854 that London doctor John Snow produced his revolutionary work on disease transmission. The widespread use of vaccines begun in the late 19th century. After a cholera bacterium was isolated byShow MoreRelatedThe Ghost Map By Steven Johnson1304 Words   |  6 PagesJohnson is a very detailed account of Dr. John Snow’s remarkable discovery of how Cholera was spread in the 19th century. Johnson chronicles the everyday life of the average english man and woman, and in doing so, reveals the intricacies of changing the way a society thinks and responds to change. The Ghost Map reflects the correlation of the spread of Cholera and social status in 19th century England. It also shows prevailing scientific beliefs at the time and their effect on medicine, accounts DrRead MoreNative American And Native Americans1292 Words   |  6 Pagesbut has not traditionally included Native Hawaiians or certain Alaskan Natives, such as Aleut, Yup ik, or Inuit peoples. Indigenous American peoples from Canada are known as First Nations. Since the end of the 15th century, the migration of Europeans to the Americas has led to centuries of exchange and adjustment between Old and New World societies. Most Native American groups had historically lived as hunter-gatherer societies and preserved their histories by oral traditions and artwork, which hasRead MoreLondon, Being The Densest Settlement On The Planet With 2.5 Million People Into 30 Square Miles1586 Words   |  7 PagesLondon, being the densest settlement on the planet with 2.5 million people into 30 square miles, was emerging as the most populated urban metropolitan in the mid 19th century. Although, London started enjoying the fruits, it was not prepared to face the challenges of the urbanization. It was lacking the infrastructure necessary to support dense civilization like the garbage disposal, clean water supply, sewers, public health care etc. In the absence of an efficient sewage system, people were dumpingRead More History of Public Health Essay1061 Word s   |  5 Pagessmallpox epidemic. An individual without the disease could gain some measure of immunity against it by inhaling the dried crusts that formed around the lesions of infected individuals. Children were protected by inoculating a scratch on their forearms with the pus from a lesion. However, this practice of vaccination did not become prevalent until the 1820s, following the work of Edward Jenner to treat smallpox (Kumar, 2007). When the Black Plaque stuck Europe in the 14th century, many differentRead MoreThe Epidemic Of Meningitis Epidemic1169 Words   |  5 PagesThe first recorded Meningitis epidemic occurred in Geneva in 1805, and shortly afterward several other outbreaks in Europe and the United States were recorded as well. Then, thirty-five years later, the first outbreak in Africa was recorded. The African Meningitis outbreaks became much more common in the 20th century. News Medical stated that â€Å"The first major epidemic was reported in Nigeria and Ghana from 1905-1908.† In the earliest reports, large numbers of people died from this disease. The firstRead MoreSymptoms And Treatment Of Sleeping Sickness1260 Words   |  6 Pagesdisease came in different waves throughout the 19th and 20th century and left many dead, particularly in the lakeshore areas. The written documents from the early 20th century on the sleeping sickness epidemics show that the advancing knowledge derived from medi cal research and experimentations led to the creation of strict public health policies, such as depopulation and restriction of travel, in the modern imperial world. During the early 20th century, there was some general knowledge about tropicalRead MoreSocial and Economic Effects of the Plague on Medieval Islam Societies1237 Words   |  5 PagesThe Bubonic Plague, known more commonly as the Black Death, was a fatal disease that ravaged Asia and Europe during the mid-14th century. Although the destruction the Plague brought upon Europe in terms of deaths was enormous, the Islamic world arguably suffered more due to the fact that plague epidemics continually returned to the Islamic world up until the 19th century. The recurrence of the disease caused Muslim populations to never recover from the losses suffered and a resulting demographic shiftRead More Tuberculosis and Typhus Fever: Diseases of Class in 19th-Century England895 Words   |  4 PagesTuberculosis and Typhus Fever: Diseases of Class in 19th-Century England Missing Works Cited Although more prevalent amongst the working class, tuberculosis and typhus fever were contracted by all populations in Victorian England. People of the upper and middle classes could afford treatment while the poor were often subjected to unsanitary, disease-ridden living conditions. Charity schools were common places of infection due to inedible food and a vulnerability to contagion, i.e., the necessityRead MorePhysical Therapy1408 Words   |  6 Pagesincluding: 1. The history/development/evolution of medical infrastructure in Puerto Rico 2. The polio epidemics in Puerto Rico 3. The polio epidemics in the United States Before embarking on topics that are more directly tied to health, I think it is important to give a brief history of Puerto Rican politics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I’ve also made one notable excursion into late 19th century Puerto Rican medical history, as one of the major organizers of Puerto Rican independence wasRead MoreTuberculosis As A Disease Responsible For Millions Of Deaths1679 Words   |  7 PagesTuberculosis Tuberculosis, a disease responsible for millions of deaths and has been affecting people since Aristotle’s and Hippocrates’s eras to the present day (Frith, 2014a). Tuberculosis has surged in great epidemics and then receded, Mycobacterium tuberculosis may have killed more persons than any other microbial pathogen (Frith, 2014a). Tuberculosis is an infection by the â€Å"bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis which invades the lungs† (Saladin, 2015) and other parts of the body. Tuberculosis