The Epidemic Streets By Anne Hardy Summary

The Epidemic Streets: Infectious Disease and the Rise of Preventive Medicine, 1856-1900, written by Anne Hardy. Her book basically foretells the advancement in the examination of mortality and morbidity versus these factors as medical innovations began taking shape. “For many years the decline in the death rates from the common infectious diseases which began in the 1870s was attributed to the new science and technology of public health” (p .1) Mrs. Hardy exhibits true detective skills as she collects and uses a vast array of medical records as her supporting evidence. Her focus is on communicable diseases and their specific behavior in early 19th century London from childhood all the way through adulthood. “If we look at the eight major diseases and their behaviour in the years 1850 to 1900, two sets of distinctions can be made. One is between the diseases which principally affected adults and the infectious diseases of childhood” (p. 290)
In the beginning of her book Anne begins singling

She finds the topic interesting mainly because the sheer numbers of childhood deaths related to the epidemic in London from 1865 to the turn of the century. In her acknowledgements she equates the unsettling deaths with being on the receiving end as a mother and not being able to handle such tragedy. “The writing of this book saved my sanity during their babyhood: their company makes me profoundly grateful that deadly epidemics of childhood infections are at this moment essentially a terror of the past” (p. VII). Anne chose a curiosity in this book for a lecturer, but gained the knowledge of scholars that made medical history over the years. As the reader carries on through the book assumptions are made and correlations of the work of experts are exhibited. One may think that this would be troublesome for an untrained reader; however, it most certainly is the exact