DISEASE AND HISTORY LECTURE NOTES

We need to understand something of the nature of the following terms:

       Epidemic and Pandemic

Cholera (infectious bacterial disease, Vibrio cholerae)

Typhus (bacterial disease spread by lice or fleas)

Bubonic Plague (bacterial infection, spread by flease/rodents)

Yellow Fever (“acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted

by infected mosquitoes.”)

Smallpox (“Smallpox is a disease caused by the Variola major

virus.”)

I.  CORTES, AZTECS, AND WILLIAM MCNEILL…

II. IDEAS OF DISEASE TRANSMISSION BEFORE THE 19TH CENTURY:

III. DISEASE IN WORLD HISTORY: EXAMPLES

A. Yellow Fever in Haiti

                        B. Bubonic Plague in Jaffa

                        C. Typhus in Russia

D. Cholera: Pretty Much Everywhere—

A DREADED PANDEMIC…1829–1851:

E. Plague in Australia

IV. WHY DOES THIS DISEASE BUSINESS MATTER?

A. Is it still an issue?

B. More importantly, since it is still an issue, let’s look at what it means:

Disease and Government Response…

                        Help can be dangerous…