-
400
Hippocrate's Theory
Around 400 b.c a Greek physician named Hippocrates claims that infectious diseases are caused by smeely gases. His (incorrect) theory lasts until the 1800s. -
The Great Plague of London
The Great Plague of London started early 1665, and killed between 75,000-100,000 people of Londons rapidly growing population of 146,000. It was believed to start in the rat infested destitute parts of londons poor neighborhoods that were filthy and didnt properly sdispose of sewage. The demise of the plague was in 1666, and compleley vanished after the Great Fire. -
Boston Smallpox Epidemic
The Boston smallpox epidemic lasted for April-December in 1721. Out of the 5889 Bostitonians that had smallpox, 844 people died, making smallpox responsible for more than three-quarters of the deaths in Boston that year. -
Yellow Fever
In 1793 a yellow fever epidemic hit Philadelphia, the most cosmopolitan place in the U.S at that time. 5,000 out of the 45,000 populating people died, and an estimated 17,000 more fled. -
Edward Jenner
In 1796 Edward Jenner created the smallpox vaccination. He experimented and took pus from Sarah Nelmes and put it into the cut of a boy. Sarah Nelmes was a milk maid and had been exposed to cow poxs, which made her immune to smallpox. Which then made the boy to smallpox as well. In 1853, 30 years after Jenner's death, the smallpox vaccination was made compulsory in England and Wales. -
Cholera
In 1849 Dr. John Snow publicily stated that cholera was spread in water. He was still researching when in 1854 the disease returned to England. A single water pump was conatminated and hudreds of people were infected as a consequence. This was enough evidence to confirm Snow's theory, -
Bacteria=Illnesses
In the 1860's a french chemist Louis Pasteur discovered that bacteria caused illnesses. His theory of germs then was used as a basis for fighting all diseases. -
Yellow Fever and Malaria
Charles I, King of Spain had an idea to build a water way to facilitate Spain's interests in the New World. However, that idea was abandoned in 1889 when yellow fever and malaria incapacitated many workers and caused at least 20,000 to die. -
The Spanish Influenza Pandemic
The Spanish Influenza Pandemic began in 1918 and lasted until 1919. The three waves of the epidemic infected around 500 million people, and killed around 50-100 million of them. -
Penicillin
In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. He was growing mold in a petri dish when he discovered some of the mold was killing disease killing bacteria. He named the bacteria penicillin.
