Justinian's Plague, the Black Death, the Great Plague, cholera, influenza, tuberculosis, and AIDSthese diseases and others have devastated human lives and society for generations, decimating populations, creating panic, and wrecking social and economic infrastructure. In Epidemics Laid Low epidemiologist and historian Patrice Bourdelais analyzes the history of disease epidemics in Europe from the Middle Ages to the present.This captivating account describes how populations respond to crises of disease and how authorities deal with the devastation afterward. Bourdelais discusses the successes of northern European countries in fighting and controlling infectious diseases and emphasizes, by comparison, the failures of the countries in the south. He links success to several factors: ideology of progress, economic development, popular demands to improve public health, and investment in medical research. Bourdelais studies the social consequences of these policies, the changes in the representation of epidemics, the behaviors of populations, and heightened tensions between advocates of individual freedom and those of collective interest. Epidemics continue to threaten us today. What do our responses to these threats say about our priorities? Will the security of public health remain a privilege of a few powerful countries or will poorer countries benefit from the efforts of the rich to prevent the spread of disease inside their own borders?
Introduction to the English-Language EditionIntroduction1. The Plague EraFrom the Plague of the Philistines to Justinian's PlagueThe Black DeathThe Price of GrowthDecisions to Protect HealthBad Air'or Planetary Misalignment?Flagellants and PogromsThe Danse Macabre and the Apocalypse2. Modernity: New Concepts of the State and the BodyEconomies of ScaleThe Care of the BodyA Cure at Any CostThe Decline of MortalityFrom Helvétius to Vicq d'AzyrFresh Air and Clean WaterVaccination and the ElitesVaccination's Astonishing SuccessA Short-lived Success?3. Cholera: The Return of Epidemic Disease and the Abandonment of Traditional Protective MeasuresContagion or Infection?The Cholera Epidemic as a Natural ExperimentHealth through IsolationDisease as Population ControlThe Mobilization of Political and Technical ResourcesTurning Away from Traditional Protective Measures4. The ""English System"": New Methods Gain AcceptanceThe English InitiativeCleanliness or Poverty?The New QuarantineThe New Sanitary FrontierSocial Stigmatization and HealthThe War on SyphilisBlaming the Victims: New Mothers5. The Sanitary Reform Movement: From Miasma Theory to Departments of HealthSanitary ReformersMaternity Wars: Should They Be Closed Down?The Effects of Better NurtitionCity Health Departments, 18791900The Importance of Municipal Policies6. Vaccination: A Powerful ParadigmSmallpox Vaccination: The Difficult Road to AcceptanceBacteriology and New VaccinesPasteur's Laboratory InvestigationsTuberculosis: Feared, Resistant, and RomanticThe Twentieth Century: New Vaccines despite Theoretical UncertaintiesObjections to VaccinationOrganized Political Opposition7. The Era of Spectacular VictoriesBacteriology's Successes: Sulfamides and AntibioticsVictory over TuberculosisIndustrialization and the Expansion of DemandGovernment Programs8. The End of a Dream?Resistance and Emerging and Re-emerging InfectionsThe Thunderbolt: AIDSWhat about the Rest of the World?ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex
""Bourdelais covers heavily traversed grounds in public health history, though providing his own insights along the way.""
