Article ID: CBB001214576

Scientific Strategy and Ad Hoc Response: The Problem of Typhoid in America and England, C. 1910--50 (2014)

unapi

In the early twentieth century, death rates from typhoid in European cities reached an all time low. By contrast, death rates in America were six times as high, and the American public health community began a crusade against the disease in 1912. In the 1920s, hopes for greater control of the disease focused not just on sewers and drinking water supplies, but on the newly established scientific means of immunization, the supervision of food-related pathways of infection, and the management of healthy carriers. The management of carriers, which lay at the core of any typhoid control program, proved an intractable problem, and typhoid remained a public health concern. America and England both struggled with control of the disease during the interwar period. Coming from different starting points, however, their approaches to the problem differed. This paper compares and contrasts these different public health strategies, considers the variable quality of support provided by bacteriological laboratories, and demonstrates that accidental typhoid outbreaks continued to happen up to the outbreak of World War II.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001214576/

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Authors & Contributors
Shapiro-Shapin, Carolyn
Risse, Guenter B.
Willrich, Michael
Troesken, Werner
Steere-Williams, Jacob
Risse, Günter B.
Concepts
Public health
Medicine and government
Disease and diseases
Epidemics
Public policy
Medicine
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
20th century, late
20th century
21st century
Places
United States
San Francisco (California)
England
Jamaica (Caribbean)
Sri Lanka
China
Institutions
World Health Organization (WHO)
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