In paintings there are numerous samples of infectious diseases (plague, leprosy, tuberculosis and syphilis, etc.) and the fear they caused in the population and their socio-cultural implications. The Plague, by Albert Camus published in 1947, tells the story of some doctors who discovered the sense of solidarity in their humanitarian work in the city of Oran while it was struck by an epidemic of plague the text begins with a quote from the aforementioned Defoe: " It is as reasonable to represent one kind of imprisonment by another as it is to represent anything that really exists by that which exists not" 7). Daniel Defoe in A Journal of the Plague Year which relates the Great Plague of London (1665) describes situations that seem to be current nowadays because they are so similar 7. The Decameron, written in 1352 by Boccaccio, begins with a description of the bubonic plague that struck Florence in 1348 and how a group of ten young people fleeing from the plague, take refuge in a villa on the outskirts of Florence 3 - 5.The diseases that devastated London during the 16th century are reflected in Shakespeare's plays in Romeo and Juliet the plague and the quarantine of Verona play a crucial role 6. Thucydides, father of scientific historiography, and Sophocles made references in their works to the plague that devastated Athens 2. In literature, references to pandemics and epidemics, generally plague, in different classical and modern texts can be easily found. The following Table, self-elaborated and based on a wide variety of literature and sources, lists the oldest and deadliest epidemics and pandemics.Īs a mere matter of extension and due to the subject matter of this journal, only a few samples have been cited in literature and painting, bearing in mind that there are other examples in architecture, sculpture, music, dance and cinema. To consult the meaning of, among other concepts, epidemiology, plague, epidemic, pandemic, endemic, epidemiological outbreak, zoonosis, lazaretto, the dictionary of medical terms of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Spain 1 ) can be consulted.ĭetecting the oldest pandemics of human kind and those that have caused the greatest number of deaths could be the first step. The correct use of terminology is also important. Infectious diseases in the form of epidemics or pandemics have accompanied the human race throughout history. Documents written in all types of support on plague, typhus (gaol fever), whooping cough, measles, cholera, influenza, AIDS (HIV), meningitis, tuberculosis, could remind us that the situation created by the COVID-19 is not new. However, when we write about health crises, we should reasonably document the arguments bearing in mind the historical bibliography that support that epidemics and pandemics have existed for centuries. These Bibliographic Databases have been open access for researchers and health care professionals. Since Coronavirus disease, responsible for COVID-19, emerged at the end of 2019, and subsequently since the declaration of the disease as a pandemic in March 2020, there has never been before such an increase in publications in journals indexed in the main bibliographic databases in just 12 months.
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