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
Public health: development of ideas where diseases___ ___, nurses coming into___to check on you. Development of vital___.
- come
- from
- home
- statistics
What is public health associated with?
preventative health
What is preventative health?
improve general living conditions to create healthier citizens–cleaning to avoid diseases in the first place.
What did preventative health enforce?
measures to control contagion (quarantine, vaccination, etc).
Why was the state growing its bureaucracy (preventative health)?
to monitor its public so they would be in a better position when diseases broke out.
Preventative health requires public___and___.
- involvement
- compliance
How was public involvement and compliance often achieved with preventative health? Examples?
through laws and regulations compelling people to act in a particular way.
Ex. mandated vaccinations, police, urban infractions.
What policy did preventative health affect?
the immigration policy
What is sanitarianism? What group of people had the idea? Why? Was it a smooth transition?
- cleaning up the cities
- middle class idea–poor people who are causing the problems–clean up those areas.
- not a smooth transition
What is the miasmatic theory?
idea of polluted air helped explain how people who had no direct contact fell ill to the same ‘disease’
What 4 things contributed to miasmatic theory?
air, soil, water, diet
With the miasmatic theory, what became infected? What was it polluted with? How did this affect us?
- air itself became infected
- polluted with airborne particles that get on us
What was an indicator of miasmas?
rotting smell, proximity to the rotting bits
What began the idea of cleaning up the environment?
the miasmatic theory
Was the miasmatic theory before or after the germ theory?
before
What were miasmas associated with?
stagnant water, corrupted air (poisons in the air), degenerated air
What did sanitarianism focus on?
water supplies, sewage facilities, food
What area did sanitarianism focus on?
slums, poor areas (crowded conditions, poor sanitation and hygiene)
Who did sanitarianism aggravate tensions between?
the middle class and others associated with disease and poverty.
Who did sanitarianism reforms focus on?
people in poor areas
Who did prevailing theories of contagion and infection have political consequences on particularly?
the poor
What was sanitarianism justification for?
political (legal) intervention for the health of the collective (and to ensure a healthy working population).
What did sanitarianism forge a connection between?
poverty and illness
How was sanitarianism linked to changes in working conditions?
clean up the work place, ventilation, sewers, etc.
Sanitarianism extended into___aims of sobriety, family values, etc.
moral
Who was Mary Mallon?
Irish immigrant, cook (people she coked for kept becoming sick), asymptomatic.
Why was Mary Mallon quarantined?
because she was asymptomatic
How many people was Mary Mallon accused of infecting? How many died?
- 51 people
- 3 died
How many times was Mary Mallon incarcerated?
twice
How many years did Mary Mallon spend in a facility?
30 years
Did Mary Mallon understand her condition?
No
At the time, public health measures expose a___between individuals and___and their ‘right’ to health.
- tension
- communities
Epidemics have had a major impact on populations and on economic___, intellectual and___aspects of life.
- social
- political
Incidence of infections disease are elated to changes in what three things?
- wealth
- hygiene
- nutrition
Were epidemics confined to only the medical arena?
no, they were a part of trade, public property, etc.
