Epidemics In The 19th Century

The epidemiologic triangle consists of the host, the agent and the environment. According to the CDC (2012), the Host is the organism harboring the disease. The agent is the microbe that causes the disease and the environment is those external factors that cause or allow disease transmission. The epidemiologic triangle for Tuberculosis is as follow: The agent is the Tuberculosis organism. The hosts are poor nutrition, concurrent disease and low immunity. Lastly, the environment are, crowding, poor ventilation and bad

“Tuberculosis was another big killer in the 1800s (Humphries/ Bystrianyk 15). By the late 1930’s the death rate had dropped by 92% (Humphries/ Bystrianyk 15). By 1970, the decline had reached over 99% (Humphries/ Bystrianyk 15). During the 1900’s this disease was killing 5 to 16 times more people than typhoid, scarlet fever, whooping cough, measles, or diphtheria (Humphries/ Bystrianyk 15).” Despite the substantial amount of deaths from Tuberculosis many good treatments to not only treat tuberculosis but to help cure many other infections and bacterias appeared. For instance, Rifampin, an antibiotic used to treat Tuberculosis, Neisseria meningitidis- also known as Meningitis- or infections in the nose and throat. Another treatment is a vaccine known as Bacillus Calmette- Guerin to prevent T.b. or to heal bladder tumors or bladder cancers. “It wasn’t that all these infectious diseases had simultaneously changed to be less deadly (Humphries/ Bystrianyk 15). It was the environment in which they had existed had shifted from one where they were very often deadly to one where they were they were not a significant threat (Humphries/ Bystrianyk 15). Improved sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, and other factors had played a pivotal role in this amazing defeat of infectious disease (Humphries/ Bystrianyk 15).” Similar to Scarlet Fever,

The Black Death spread so quickly due to poor hygiene and overcrowding in major cities. It was the worst pandemic plague, and had significant results on the world.

The town of Salem, Massachusetts was run by a strict theocracy. The Puritan theocracy looked down upon activities that would be considered “fun,” an example being dancing. If people were caught doing a sinful activity such as this, they could, and most often would, be punished. The punishment for dancing would usually involve being struck by a whip. This way of life was especially difficult for young children who had more energy to use than their lifestyle would allow. This was a cause that lead up to the events of the witch accusations.

One of the most scariest diseases, if not the scariest disease, was smallpox. Smallpox was a game change in the 1500’s. The smallpox most definitely had one of the biggest impacts on the world. People often say that had it still been occurring it would have wiped out mankind and possibly all mammals, reptiles, amphibians and possibly most birds, and bugs. The cause of the civil war was because of an epidemic of smallpox. That was classified as the first recorded smallpox epidemic in the New World. This epidemic took place in 1518, it spread to Mexico and South

Owning the complete collection of Grey’s Anatomy may make someone feel like an expert of the medical field, but when it comes down to knowing the diseases that were common during other periods of time, that understanding seems to be very limited. While diseases like the common cold have been around for a long time, there are many staple diseases that have shaped the medical field and the foundation for medicine today that need to be known. To fully understand diseases during the Elizabethan era, it is vital to understand the cause, type, and treatment of the illnesses that were common during that time period.

The disease in question was Smallpox. Smallpox is a fatal, infectious disease in which the infected become covered in fluid-filled bumps. The disease goes through 7 distinct stages in which the

Antisepsis wasn’t the only way to prevent illness. By the end of the 18th century people had found a way to try to prevent smallpox, a disease that had caused around 60 million deaths in Europe in that century alone. They had noticed that the survivors of smallpox never developed the disease again, so they began to scratch small pieces of smallpox sores into their skin, which would give them a mild case of smallpox, so they wouldn’t develop full-blown smallpox later. This was called variolation. They only problem was that sometimes it would cause a full-blown case instead of a mild one.

The 18th century had been a world of unknown scientific and medical exploration. Across the globe, many kingdoms and countries had faced a similar complication that baffled even the most educated physicians and politicians. Every summer civilians would meet with their local doctors and grumble about their bodily issues, but each doctor had discovered the same symptoms. On August 3, 1793 the city of Philadelphia had a devastating disease lurking in the streets and alleyways. Jim Murphy, an American author of “An American Plague”, is an author to more than 35 nonfiction and fiction books for children and young adults, also winning multiple awards for his accurate and such accomplished work. The variety of subjects in history to choose from had

He was asked by a man named M. Bigo, who worked at a brewery, as to why the brewery’s beer was spoiling. Louis Pasteur conducted research at the brewery, and discovered hundreds and thousands of microbes in the samples after surveying them with a microscope; concluding that the germs were not a product of the spoilage, but a cause of it. This conclusion began the germ theory.

One of the major surgeries of note that took place in the United States in 1809 was the ovariotomy of a Kentucky surgeon. Expected twins came to naught and a 20 pound ovarian tumor in Jane Crawford’s protruding belly needed to excised. Performed on Dr. McDowell’s kitchen table, before anesthesia, before sterilization, Mrs. Crawford sang hymns, lost 20 pounds and went on to live another 31 years.

Diseases such as smallpox, measles, and syphilis were being spread out across the globe, due to the new interaction of people from different areas of origin. With the Columbian Exchange in full force, the new worlds were coming in contact which changed the lives of the everyday people. The diseases were caused by interaction with bodies of people who were not immune to the certain bacteria. The Americas were hardly hit, for no one knew of it, while they already were all in contact with each other already (Asia, Europe, Africa). None of the Native Americans were expecting such a hit of diseases. According to www.learncc.org, “The figure most often cited is that 90 to 95 percent of the native population of the Americas died between the time Columbus landed in the Caribbean and the end of the eighteenth century.” A huge percentage of the deaths were caused by the sweeping of diseases throughout the world. With all the newcomers, no one was ready for what was about to hit them. After the suffering in the New World, it began to uprise in Europe. Then, after time, began to spread towards Asia and Africa. In a while, it was worldwide. The diseases changed the environment of both worlds. They killed tens of thousands

On September 16, 1862, Daniel M. Holt M.D. wrote to his wife, “Shortly [we encountered] a rebel with his brains blown out, arms extended, and eyes protruding from their sockets, some not yet dead but grasping the few remaining breaths away in utter unconsciousness, others mortally wounded calling for water knowing that eternity was separated only by a hair’s breadth…I have seen what I never once expected I should see.” Dr. Holt of the 121st New York Army further describes the carnage and horror that he and countless other Civil War surgeons encountered in letters and journals written during his experience in the war. While working during a time described by Surgeon General William Hammond as “the end of the Medical Middle Ages,” it was inevitable

Once the child recovered from the cowpox disease, Jenner then tried to infect the child with smallpox, but the young man proved to be immune. “It seemed that this attempt at vaccination had worked. But Jenner had to work on for two more years before his discovery was considered sufficiently tested by the medical profession to permit widespread introduction.” (Alexander, 2003). Beginning in 1831 and ending in 1835, due to increasing vaccination, smallpox deaths were down to one in a thousand. The year of 1853 deemed obligatory for all children born after the first of August to receive routine immunizations. By 1898, one hundred years after Edward Jenner’s unveiling of the vaccine, smallpox in London had fallen dramatically – to one in every 100,000 (less than 50 people per

The discovery of what causes a disease was made by Louis Pasteur. Pasteur developed the Germ Theory, this states that a microorganism called the “Germ” can cause dangerous diseases. He discovered the germ in a food conversion, the germ was infecting the food and beverages causing people to get