Epidemics of Smallpox and the Introduction of Vaccines in the Bistriţa Region (XVIII –XIX Centuries)
| Autor: | Floarea Elena Triscas |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
education.field_of_study
business.industry Population quarantine Plague (disease) medicine.disease Vaccine introduction epidemic Scientific medicine law.invention Contagious disease smallpox vaccin Law health orders Quarantine Ethnology Medicine Proper treatment Smallpox General Materials Science business education |
| Zdroj: | Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 92:947-952 |
| ISSN: | 1877-0428 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.08.782 |
| Popis: | Major problems of the past were various epidemics which decimated the population and often created hysteria. Smallpox was also a fear of Europeans because of the high number of deaths among children and the loss of beauty for those who escaped with their lives from the disease. The present paper is a case study based on archival documents that have surprised the fight with the epidemic on the border of the Habsburg Empire whit Moldova. A region in which empiricism protected some from the disease and vaccine introduction was greeted with fear and needed the support of local priests to bear fruit. The disease experienced more virulent forms than today and could be confused with the plague, another contagious disease widespread in that time period. Because proper treatment was not known at that time, and scientific medicine was at its beginnings, the fight had to be taken at the level of prevention. In the Bistriţa region in the action against illness were involved doctors from the Saxon District of Bistriţa and military medical personnel from the Rodna Military District and priests from every city. Significant results were not observed in the early years but the central authorities of Transylvania fought as best they could to force the population to accept the vaccine. Epidemics of smallpox have been present in the Bistriţa region after the introduction of the vaccine, because the vaccinated population came into contact with the unvaccinated one but over time they became less virulent. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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