History of Science 2220 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7-8: Soho, Saint Lawrence River, Biological Warfare
2 May 2018
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Epidemics and Numerical Medicine: Cholera and Typhus (pg 173-182)
With the advent of positivism in the early nineteenth century, numerical medicine soon influenced
concepts of epidemic diseases
Cholera came to North America on ships in 1832. Sick newcomers were confined to sheds without
fresh water or sewage facilities. Healthy immigrants were herded into the same buildings to be
‘quarantined’ side by side with those who were already sick.
Cholera’s link to drinking water was not established until twenty- two years after its epidemic debut
in Europe. In 1854 the English doctor John Snow carefully tracked the location of victims to identify
London’s Broad Street pump as the source of an outbreak.
seemed to be a disease of immigrants, the poor, and the dirty. Images portraying the link between
foreigners and death were common.
Typhus, which is characterized by fever and rash, is now considered to be caused by the louse-borne
agent
Rickettsia prowazeckii
. It had been endemic in Europe since antiquity, and severe epidemics
occurred at various intervals, related to environmental conditions.
To keep typhus from the established communities, the authorities used the quarantine station on
Grosse Ile, in the St Lawrence River near Quebec City. Immigrants were housed in the island’s
inadequate buildings, without water or fresh clothing, where the conditions guaranteed that those
who did not already have typhus would soon contract it.
Prevention without Cause: Smallpox
Regularly found in Europe since antiquity. Early modern records indicate that at least 20 per cent of
the population had been scarred or blinded by variola.
Not only an accident of contact between peoples of two continents, smallpox was sometimes
transmitted deliberately on soiled blankets in a form of biological warfare.
On 9 December 1979 the WHO formally declared that smallpox had become the first human
disease to be eradicated.
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Document Summary
Epidemics and numerical medicine: cholera and typhus (pg 173-182) With the advent of positivism in the early nineteenth century, numerical medicine soon influenced concepts of epidemic diseases. Cholera came to north america on ships in 1832. Sick newcomers were confined to sheds without fresh water or sewage facilities. Healthy immigrants were herded into the same buildings to be. Quarantined" side by side with those who were already sick. Cholera"s link to drinking water was not established until twenty- two years after its epidemic debut in europe. In 1854 the english doctor john snow carefully tracked the location of victims to identify. London"s broad street pump as the source of an outbreak. seemed to be a disease of immigrants, the poor, and the dirty. Images portraying the link between foreigners and death were common. Typhus, which is characterized by fever and rash, is now considered to be caused by the louse-borne agent rickettsia prowazeckii.
