In the mid-19th century, the scientific community was divided into “contagionists”, who argued that certain diseases such as cholera were spread through direct contact between people, and “miasmaists,” who believed that these diseases were spread through direct contact between people. Spread by direct contact between people. Through the air, from unhealthy and polluted environments.
In 1854, a terrible cholera epidemic broke out in London. Miasmatic authorities failed to control the epidemic, and more than 1,300 people died in the first week. Anesthesiologist and epidemiologist John Snow intuited that there must be an external factor conducive to spread, such as fountain water consumed by affected neighbors. The key to solving this detective investigation lies in his cooperation with the nearby priest, who knows the residents one by one and understands their habits and actions. Intersecting medicine and sociology, they demonstrated that water captured from highly polluted areas of the Thames was responsible for the epidemic.
Steven Johnson recounts the study in this fascinating book, marking a before-and-after in the history of medicine “Ghost Map” (Captain Swain)I thought of her when I read about the evolution of the gastroenteritis epidemic Several towns in Zaragoza have been without drinking tap water for a month This resulted in more than five hundred people becoming infected with the nasty strain of Cryptosporidium. It is necessary to cross-check all data to find a solution as quickly as possible.