THEORY OF CONTAGION AS A DRIVER OF PROGRESS IN EPIDEMIOLOGY?
Abstract
Conventionally, the history of epidemiology is counted from Hippocrates of Kos, who is considered as a founder of miasma theory. Here I perform an attempt to trace the evolution of the theory of contagion to its merger with miasma theory and until it regained independence. The earliest mention on the infectiousness of certain diseases can be found in the "Sushruta Samhita", a Sanskrit treatise unknown to ancient authors in Greece and Rome. In Europe, it was a warlord Thucydides who noted a contagiousness of certain diseases in his book called "History". However, the concept of contagiousness has not been clearly proposed up to the writing of philosophical treatise "Problems", the authorship of which is usually attributed to Aristotle. The theory of contagion was first implemented as quarantine in 1377 in Ragusa, yet Girolamo Fracastoro summarized the existing knowledge in the unified doctrine only two centuries later. Events that followed the division of the medical community into the adherents of theory of contagion and miasma theory require further research.
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Review
For citations:
Blokh A.I. THEORY OF CONTAGION AS A DRIVER OF PROGRESS IN EPIDEMIOLOGY? Fundamental and Clinical Medicine. 2018;3(1):72-76. (In Russ.)
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