Showing papers on "Plague (disease) published in 1981"

Fighting the plague in seventeenth-century Italy

Abstract: After the great pandemic of 1348, the plague became endemic in Europe, affecting life at every level for more than three hundred years. In attempting to fight the dread enemy, the North Italian states had developed, by the early sixteenth century, a highly sophisticated system of public health. Special permanent magistracies combining legislative and executive powers were established to administer all public health matters. In this volume, Carlo M. Cipolla throws new light on the subject, utilizing newly uncovered and significant archival material. In the first essay, the author analyzes the complex set of interrelationships that existed between theory and practice in Renaissance epidemiology. The significance of this essay goes beyond the history of public health and extends to the larger history of science. In the second essay, Cipolla studies a case in which health matters became the object of intense diplomatic activity. In that instance, fully sovereign states envisaged interstate controls and relinquished discretionary powers for the sake of the common health. Although the concerted effort was short-lived, it does represent an attempt at international health cooperation that was unmatched for another two centuries, until the first International Sanitary Conference, held in Paris in 1851. In the third essay, unusually detailed statistical documentation allows the author to analyze in detail the demographic, economic, and social aspects of the fight against the plague in a Tuscan city Pistoia during the epidemic of 1630 31. A richly documented appendix, forming an essay in itself, illustrates present knowledge of the clinical, pathological, and epidemiological features of the plague in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe. "

The disappearance of plague: an alternative view.

Abstract: The author presents a critique of an article by Appleby concerning why the plague disappeared from Europe in the seventeenth century. In particular he suggests that in addition to the development of greater resistance or immunity among urban rat populations as suggested by Appleby various human actions such as quarantine measures taken by governments against infected ships played an important part in eliminating the plague as a major cause of human mortality. (ANNOTATION)

The Emigration of Potters from Athens in the Late Fifth Century B. C. and Its Effect on the Attic Pottery Industry

Abstract: Although pottery schools that imitated Attic pottery were established during the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., few successfully challenged the productive Attic workshops. In the second half of the fifth century, however, schools that had an impact on Attic pottery distribution were begun at Thurii, Taras, Falerii, Syracuse, Lipari, Olympia, Corinth, Smyrna, and Olynthos. Most appear to have been founded by Attic-trained potters who decided to leave Athens at this time. Their emigration caused a reduction in personnel in the Attic pottery industry that resulted in an increased reliance on cheaper, mass-produced pots. With the exception of the two earliest schools, the majority were founded during or immediately after the Peloponnesian War. Potters would not have left Athens because of lack of markets abroad, since the war did not adversely affect the distribution of Attic pottery. While wartime conditions, especially the plague, depleted the general work force, the protracted war may have also prompted some craftsmen to abandon Athens, especially metics who had previously considered permanent residency; in addition, slaves could have escaped more easily during wartime. Both groups combined to form a large segment of skilled craftsmen; still the number of 6migrds need not be large since the pottery industry was relatively small. The artistic decline that resulted from the emigrpation of potters from Athens permitted the continued development of the new local schools during the late fifth and early fourth centuries. As the fourth century progressed, the importance of Attic pottery as an export ware gradually declined. During the sixth and fifth centuries, various pottery schools that imitated the popular Attic styles were established around the Mediterranean; but few schools could compete successfully with the productive Attic workshops and their effect on Attic pottery distribution was minimal.' During the second half of the fifth century, however, a number of pottery schools that effectively challenged the Athenian monopoly were established. Because many of them, at their inception, produced pottery closely resembling Attic wares in both style and technique, they probably were founded by Attictrained potters and painters who decided to leave Athens du ing this period. A reduction in personnel in th Attic pottery industry, which such emigration would cause, is suggested by the apparent decline in the number of pots produced and the increased reliance on cheaper, mass-produced pots by the late fifth century. This combination of events may be responsible in part for the gradual decline of Attic pottery as an export ware during

Gregory the Great's Europe

Abstract: Gregory became pope in the summer of 590, to succeed his predecessor who had been carried away by the plague. Nearly fifty years had passed since the first outbreak of the plague in the time of Justinian. Let the plague serve as our signpost to a period of upheaval across Europe. If the 530s were the ‘age of hope’ a disastrous reversal began in the 540s. The succeeding half-century was a time of collapsing hopes and darkening horizons: the prospect of imperial reconquest and peace receding after 540, never to be more than ephemerally and precariously realized; the dreams of spiritual and political unification revealed as illusory; war, plague and the obscure workings of ‘demographic forces’ combined to turn the Italy of Boethius into that of Gregory the Great in the course of some sixty years. The contours of the societies of late Antiquity were becoming displaced to produce a new social landscape. Some of this transformation has left visible traces in our evidence and has been extensively studied; much of it has been concealed from us, either through lack of evidence or through failure to ask the right questions. It is only in recent years, to take one example, that the subtle shifts in Byzantine religiosity and political ideology discernible in the later sixth century have begun to cohere into something like a unified picture of a ‘new integration’ of culture and society in the towns of the Eastern Empire. How far the world of Western Europe was exposed to analogous changes may be a question impossible to answer; in any case, it needs approaching piecemeal and with the necessary discrimination of time and place.

Arabic plague chronologies and treatises: Social and historical factors in the formation of a literary genre

Abstract: In 1880 the indefatigable pioneer of Near Eastern Kulturgeschichte, Alfred von Kremer, published a detailed study on the history of epidemic disease in medieval Islam. (1) The work was a remarkable piece of research that not only marked the first systematic attempt to assess the impact of epidemics in Islamic history, but also sought, for the first time, to take advantage of the insights offered by the Arabic plague treatises written after the Black Death of 749/1348. Kremer's study was far ahead of its time, and in his own day it inspired little further research in this direction. Though subsequent generations of scholars added from time to time to our knowledge of this subject, the plague treatises for decades remained practically untouched in the libraries of the Near East and Europe. It is only within the last ten years that attention has once again been focused on these works. An article by Jacqueline Sublet has examined one of the most important texts, elucidating some of the dominant themes and issues. (2) Most recently, the treatises have finally been exploited in depth in Michael

The Epidemiology of Dental Caries

Abstract: Up, and after putting several things in order to my removal, to Woolwich; the plague having a great increase this week, beyond all expectation, of almost 2,000, making the general Bill 7,000, odd 100; and the plague above 6,000. Thus this month ends with great sadness upon the public, through the greatness of the plague everywhere throughout the kingdom almost. Every day sadder and sadder news of its increase. In the city dies this week 7,496, and of them 6,102 of the plague. But is feared that the true number of the dead this week is near 10 000: partly from the poor that cannot be taken notice of, through the greatness of the number, and partly from the Quakers and others that will not have any bell ring for them.

The status of plague in Zimbabwe.

Abstract: The results of tests in Zimbabwe from 1975 to 1978 showed the presence of antibodies to Yersinia pestis in 4·24% of 3964 dog sera; 0·86% of 1048 human sera and 0·88% of 454 small mammal sera. Antibodies to plague were demonstrated in the following rodent species: Aethomys chrysophitus, A. namaquensis, Tatera teucogasler and Pedetes capensis. The significance of the results is discussed in relation to the 1974–75 epidemic in Zimbabwe, and the distribution of human cases of plague in southern Africa is linked to the distribution of species B of the Praomys (Mastomys) natalensis species complex.

Habitat Preference and Reproduction of Feral House Mice, Mus musculus, during Plague and Non-Plague Situations in Western Australia

Abstract: In Western Australia feral Mus musculus are well established in the southern half of the State, including remote, arid desert situations. In the South West Division Mus have a distinct spring-summer breeding period, with some breeding in autumn after favourable climatic conditions. A plague in autumn 1975 is described and abundance, fecundity, trapping behaviour and habitat selection are compared between plague and non-plague situations. It is considered that abundant rainfall during the two preceding years caused the plague. Decline of the plague coincided with the onset of winter; there is some evidence to suggest that shelter more than food limited numbers, but the decline was probably also influenced by intrinsic factors. In wheatbelt areas of Western Australia Mus are most abundant in samphire heaths.

A Mycoplasma gallisepticum epornitic in turkeys: its epidemiology and eradication.

Abstract: Infectious sinusitis of turkeys (5) was first described in 1926 (3). Infectious sinusitis was the plague of the turkey industry until the late 1960's, when Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) was successfully eradicated from turkey breeders. There have been occasional outbreaks since, mostly in market birds. In recent years, there have been major epornitics in Virginia, with 67 cases in 1976 (1), and California, with 17 cases in 1978 (2). Several individual flock outbreaks have occurred each year in different parts of the country. A major epornitic of MG occurred in market turkeys of the 5-county area near Monroe, North Carolina (Fig. 1), from October 1978 through 1980. The laboratory-confirmed MG cases in North Carolina for the years 1978 to 1980 are shown in Fig. 1. The Monroe area is a high-density poultry-production area: 12

The Black Death in England

Abstract: From 1348 to 1350 Europe was devastated by an epidemic of plague, called at the time the Great Mortality and later the Black Death. The epidemic reached southern Europe from the Middle East and spread northward, reaching England in June 1348. Contemporary descriptions leave no doubt of the diagnosis, but estimates of the mortality differ widely owing to lack of contemporary statistics; in England it was probably between one-third and one-half of the population. The Black Death and subsequent plague epidemics in the 14th century had marked social and economic effects, reduced the prestige of the Church and off the medical profession, and were a factor in the social unrest which led to the Renaissance of the Reformation.

End the Plague on the House of Guidance—Make Counseling Part of the Curriculum

Abstract: While criticisms of guidance programs and personnel are not unfounded, this writer explains, guidance professionals do have a choice. Standards have been developed and exemplary programs identified, providing models for improvement.

Plague in Central Germany in the 17th century

Abstract: It is reported on the experiences from several events of epidemic plague in the 17th century, above all in Middle Germany. Documentary material and the historic literature belonging to this served as basis. The mortality rates of plague are discussed, which proved as relatively different. The seasonal courses of the individual epidemics are discussed, which took place above all in the months July, August and September and finished in winter, what is connected with the biology of the flea. It is emphasized that the mortality of children is particularly in the plague, whereas the women and above all the men somewhat less frequently die of the epidemic, unless statistically significant differences are the result in these cases. The inter-familiar infection chains proved as relatively long so that in these cases multiple infections and secondary diseases are supposed to be the cause. It seems to be very likely that for the events of plague in Europe not the infection formula rat - plague-flea - man is valid, but the infection took place interhumanly according to the formula man - Pulex irritans - man.

The plague reconsidered. A new look at its origins and effects in 16th and 17th century England

Abstract: Mais surtout, devant la violence du fléau, jaillit cette question, toute naïve : par quel hasard, par quel « miracle », en l'absence d'une médecine scientifique, la peste n'at-elle point frappé encore davantage et n'at-elle pas exterminé la population tout entière, au vi ou bien au xiv siècle ? A quoi ont donc pu tenir la rémission des uns et la survie des autres ? Faut-il invoquer, par priorité, comme nous y invite Jean-Noël Biraben au fil d'une démonstration rigoureuse, (cf. t. II, p. 55 ss) l'efficacité croissante des institutions et des barrières sanitaires, par exemple dans l'Europe des xvi et xvn siècles, dotée d'une meilleure information et d'une meilleure organisation administrative ?

The one-day votive church: a religious response to the black death in early Russia.

Abstract: In 1892, as Moscow prepared to celebrate the five-hundredth anniversary of the death of Saint Sergei of Radonezh, an article appeared in the Moskovskiia vedomosti which suggested that one appropriate way to mark the occasion would be to erect a replica of the small wooden Church of the Holy Trinity built by Saint Sergei at the site of his famed monastery north of Moscow. The article further urged that the project be a cooperative effort and that the proposed church be constructed in one day (that is, a twenty-four-hour period), in the tradition of the obydennye khramy of old.’ The tradition which the civic-minded writer of the article tried to revive dated back to the late fourteenth century. The early Russian chronicles record nineteen one-day votive churches built between 1390 and 1552, all as a response to the pestilence then raging. Ten of these were constructed in Novgorod, nine in Pskov. In addition, four others, one each in Moscow, Iaroslavl', Vologda, and Viatka, can be documented from other sources. All were built of wood in a twenty-four-hour period by communal labor.

A Brief History of the Tudor Age

Abstract: From the arrival of Henry Tudor and his army, at Milford in 1485, to the death of the great Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, this was an astonishingly eventful and contradictory age. All the strands of Tudor life are gathered in a rich tapestry - London and the country, costumes, furniture and food, travel, medicine, sports and pastimes, grand tournaments and the great flowering of English drama, juxtaposed with the stultifying narrowness of peasant life, terrible roads, a vast underclass, the harsh treatment of heretics and traitors, and the misery of the Plague.