Public health strategies and interventions have changed drastically over time. Bloodletting is one of the most ancient forms of medical interventions. It originated in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece, persisting through the Medieval, Renaissance, and Enlightenment periods (PBS). Doctors used the bloodletting method for every ailment imaginable; from pneumonia, bone fractures, and even wounds, bloodletting was as trusted and popular as aspirin is today. Public health can be dated back to the Romans whom understood even during this time frame that proper division of human waste was a necessary tenant of public health in urban areas. Even dating as early as 1000 BC, the Chinese developed the practice of variolations following a smallpox epidemic. An individual without the disease could gain some measure of immunity against it by inhaling the dried crusts that formed around the lesions of infected individuals. Children were protected by inoculating a scratch on their forearms with the pus from a lesion. However, this practice of vaccination did not become prevalent until the 1820s, following the work of Edward Jenner to treat smallpox (Kumar, 2007). When the Black Plaque stuck Europe in the 14th century, many different intervention techniques were used. Removing bodies of the dead was thought to prevent the spread of the infection, however this did little to stop the spread of the rodent-borne fleas carrying diseases. Burning parts of cities resulted in much greater benefit, since it destroyed the rodent infestations. The development of quarantine in the medieval period helped mitigate the effects of other infectious diseases as well. The history of public health in the United States can be divided into f... ... middle of paper ... ... History of Public Health in Illinois. (n.d.). Public Health in Illinois: A Timeline of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Retrieved from http://www.idph.state.il.us/timeline/history.htm Recent News. (n.d.). IDPH Online. Retrieved from http://www.idph.state.il.us/home.htm Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Future of Public Health. What Will It Take to Keep Americans Healthy and Safe? Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/ephli/Resources/CARE_public_health_suppl.pdf. Accessed 25 January 2012. Kumar, S. (n.d.). Public Health. Priory Medical Journals Online. Retrieved January 25, 2012, Retrieved from http://priory.com/history_of_medicine/public_health.htm Starr, D. (n.d.). Red Gold the Epic Story of Blood. PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved January 25, 2012, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/basics/bloodletting.html
In 1347, Europe began to perceive what the Plague had in store. Terrible outcomes arose when the citizens caught the Plague from fleas. The transfer of fleas to humans caused the outbreak of the Black Death. Infections that rodents caught were passed on to fleas, which would find a host to bite, spreading the terrible disease (“Plague the Black Death” n.pag.). When Genoese ships arrived back to Europe from China, with dead sailors and...
olds who now had to go to school because the government had made a law
During the Middle Ages, medicine was limited. This was critical because in 1348-1350 the Black Death killed millions, nearly one third of the population. Physicians had no idea what was causing diseases or how to stop them ("Medicine in the Middle"). The Catholic Church told its people the illness was punishment from God for their sins (Gates 9). Some of the only procedures doctors could perform was letting blood by using leeches, and mix ‘medicines’ using herbs, spices, and resins (Rooney 106-107). Other medicine was administered by drinks, ointments, poultices, baths, and purges (Rooney 120). One hundred years later, when Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, many scholars moved to Italy, where they freely exchanged ideas. With them the scholars brought their libraries of books, giving European scholars access to the Greek and Latin culture. As new ways of thinking spread from Italy across Europe, this time period became known as the Renaissance, which was an era of discovery. As explorers returned with new discoveries and information, Europeans expanded their knowledge about astronomy, botany, and geography. Scientists like Copernicus and Galileo studied the world using observation and experimentation. Thanks to Gutenberg’s printing press, this new information was available to anyone who could read. For this reason the ideal Renaissance man was expected to be a well-rounded scientist, artist, mathematician, and philosopher all in one. The way people thought about medicine changed during this era. These changes brought about unique surgical methods, instruments, medicines, and practices, with a a few notable people. The Renaissance era of discovery did much for the world of medicine.
Smallpox has been believed to be a prominent killer for thousands of years. Before 900 AD smallpox and measles were easily interchangeable to many physicians. These two diseases possessed similar symptoms, such as fevers and rashes, making it very difficult to distinguish between them. It was not until the Persian physician, Rhazes Ar-Raz Abmiz, that measles and smallpox were able to be clinically distinguished in 900 AD. Much later in 1751, Thomas Sydenham found further differentiating characteristics between the two diseases(Aufderheide, 202). Through the years, with its many outbreaks in varying areas across the planet, smallpox claimed millions of victims. Many rulers and soldiers were killed by this incredibly infectious disease. To prevent and hopefully stop the increasing numbers of deaths due to smallpox, many physicians slaved away to invent and find a cure for this disease. The first effective method of prevention was called variolation. Variolation was later modified and improved with vaccinations(Hopkins, 15). Today wild smallpox is no longer a risk. The last natural case of smallpox was reported in Somalia in 1977. While the last reported death due to smallpox was reported to be a year later in the UK(McNeil, 165). Smallpox is not completely out of the picture. After the 2001 attacks with anthrax, a strong paranoia of smallpox being used as another possible mean of bioterrorism has arisen(Oldstone, 32).
The first recorded smallpox outbreak occurred in 1350 BC during the Egyptian-Hittite war. The illness was passed from Egyptian prisoners to the Hittite population affecting both soldiers and civilians. Although it wasn’t until the late 1600’s that people in Europe and Asia accidentally discovered that those infected with smallpox through a scratch on the skin, suffered from a less severe form of the disease than those who contracted it through the respiratory tract. In the early 1700’s doctors began to store samples of smallpox pus and scabs in jars. If an outbreak occurred the doctor would make a small cut in a person’s arm and smeared the pus into the wound. This process of intentionally infecting a person with the smallpox virus in order to make them immune to the disease in the future was called inoculation.
The term “public/community health” often brings to mind sparkling clear clean water and fresh clean air. The reason for that mental image is that both are required in order for one to have good public/community health. In actuality, the term “Public Health” has been defined as “the protection and improvement of the health of the public through community action, primarily by governmental agencies” (Public Health, 2016). However, public health includes any and all actions taken to maintain and improve the general health of a community. Government health programs provide most of the public health services. In addition, many voluntary health agencies receive contributions to battle specific diseases, such as HIV and cancer. These agencies not only provide medical services, they campaign for health legislation, and make important contributions to health education. In the United States, the Public Health Service administers the government’s public health programs. State and local health departments also provide a wide range of
“Where did this concept come from and why?” The idea of bloodless surgery came about when a religious organization, called Jehovah’s Witnesses insisted on upholding their religious beliefs of being treated without blood (DoBa, T. 2013). Many medical professionals out of respect for their religious beliefs and because of the health benefits,
The blood transfusions started out as an already dangerous procedure during its early stages. Not only were the obvious factors of cleanliness and bacteria control an issue, but the question of blood types had yet to be raised. Despite this, some early blood transfusions were successful, such as Jean-Baptiste Denys’s transfusion of lamb’s blood into an adolescent suffering from fever in 1667. Nonetheless, many early transfusions were fatal, thus research on this procedure was halted until the nineteenth century. This research began to provide tangible hope in 1901 when the first blood group (ABO) was identified by Karl Landsteiner. This discovery explained the deaths of patients who had received an incompatible blood type. Further triumphs in medicine were achieved, such as the use of sodium citrate as an anti-coagulant and increased measures to create sanitarAs these improvements surfaced over the course of the first half of the twentieth century, the general population of the 1960s saw blood transf...
Furman, Bess. A Profile of the United States Public Health Service 1798-1948. District of Columbia: National Institutes of Health, 1973. Print.
Cohen, Jennie. "A Brief History of Bloodletting." History.com. 30 May 2012. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. .
In some way, public health is seen as a modern philosophical and ideological perspective based on ‘equity’ and aimed to determine inequitable in society. It seen as a ‘science’ and ‘art’ in the sense that it deals with the cause of disease, treatment of illness as well as it involves laboratory experiments, intervention and promoting of health of the population. Winslow (1920, p. 23) defined public health as ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting physical health and efficiency through organised community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control community infections, the education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organisation of medical and nursing service for early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health. On the other hand, it is ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organised effort of society’ (Acheson, 1998; in Cowley S, 2002, p. 261).
"Historical Collections :: Reflections on Health in Society & Culture." Claude Moore Health Sciences Library | www.hsl.virginia.edu. 13 Feb. 2012 .
Blood Transfusions were a huge step into the field of medicine. Blood transfusions are when someone receives blood through an IV into their own blood vessels. People are able to be kept alive for longer if not for good with this discovery. Once they figured out how blood circulated throughout the body, blood transfusions became the next step. The first transfusion was done in the mid-1600’s using animals. It was only a couple years after that when a transfusion was performed on an actual human, and it worked. This discovery in medical science opened up a whole new world for people who were sick or dying. Not only did these blood transfusions help people who were losing blood, but it also helped cure people who were sick from diseases. Blood transfusions are an exceptional creation for the health of humans and this has made an enormous result in the way that physicians treat patients.
Taylor P., (2003), the lay contribution to public health in: Public health for the 21st century. Buckingham Open University Press, Buckingham, 2003, pp 128 – 144.
Frieden establishes the fundamentals of success. These components that are innovation, communication, technical package, management, and political commitment create a web for Public Health. By utilizing this over everyday lives. These programs can target anything from micro issue to epidemics. This educational tool focuses on building a system that challenges normative ideas and helps identify new strategies. This ultimately relates in a creating an ecosystem of new ground rules that every Public Health official should use. Dr. Frieden did a great job on explaining what is next in educating and