Lecture 4: Plagues and People Flashcards
What is an epidemic?
widespread occurrence of a disease in a community at a particular time.
Ex. Ebola
What is a pandemic?
(disease) prevalent over a whole country of the world.
Ex. influenza
What is endemic?
regularly or only found among particular people or in a certain region.
___and___of social order typify human reactions to epidemic disease.
- panic
- breakdown
What are the four reactions to epidemics?
- panic and breakdown of social order
- quarantine
- deepening of social and political divisions
- grief, panic, fear, destruction
Why do people react to epidemics with quarantine?
don’t understand something, lock it up
Why do social and political divisions deepen with epidemics?
blaming (because we don’t understand it).
Epidemic episodes tend to be very___events.
public
In the medieval world aka “universe of death” domestic and human___(rats,___, lice,___) were common.
- parasites
- fleas
- worms
What plagues were common in the medieval world?
leprosy, St. Anthony’s Fire, Bubonic Plague
What was St. Anthony’s fire characterized by? What was it used by?
-hallucinations
-caused by ergot poisoning
“village gone mad”
What endemic infections were common in the medieval world?
influenza, tuberculosis, malaria, typhus, smallpox, dysentry
The medieval world was full of disease, but were they necessarily always epidemics?
Not always, they floated on top of other things.
What does misplaced responses to disease mean? Described how this fits with the example of cholera.
sometimes reactions do not match the realities, but they make sense for others reasons.
Ex. didn’t know the cause of cholera, but many people were affected.
-Reality of life in London did not match what they were recommending for people to do to avoid the disease. Recommended staying away from cold water, but that had noting to do with it.
What was Quarantine at Ellis Island, NY? How many inspected here?
Where immigrants went who were not yet American citizens. You were quarantined and inspected for an indeterminate number of time to determine if you carried certain diseases.
12 million inspected here.
What is an example of anticipating a pathogen?
wearing masks
we think we will protect ourselves by thinking it is an airborne disease when it might not be
Which community is often among the first exposed and blamed for epidemics?
the medical community
What do public policies build upon experience with?
epidemics
What did public health emerge as a response to?
Industrialization
What is public health linked to?
sanity reforms, social reforms
urban reforms, occupational health
Who are the medical and non-medical actors involved in public health?
biologists, statisticians, nurses, engineers
What were some of the social and political interventions that resulted in public health? (causes of public health).
crowded industrial urban spaces that increased diseases in the 18th and 19th century
What were some of the sanitary reforms linked with public health?
cities having working sewers, laws and policies