On the occasion of World TB day. Part-3 Once upon a time, Plague used to kill one third of population. People also believed that the bubo of plague could only be repealed by the smell of filth. In fact, the popular conception in those days was that bathing increased susceptibility to disease. They thought warmContinue reading “From Sanatorium to Domicile treatment.”
Category Archives: Ideas of health
The MIASMA Theory
On the occasion of World TB Day Prior to Robert Koch, People believed that TB, typhoid, plague and all such epidemics arise from foul air ( Miasma) which comes from putrefaction of dead bodies. (Malaria means Mal_ Air.) [ When Koch isolated and identified the cholera vibrio by applying the Koch’s postulate, his findings wereContinue reading “The MIASMA Theory”
Pill to Kill disease
Agent, Host and Environment. Hardly a century ago, we used to go for a change of air for chronic diseases like Tuberculosis or die from simple infections of wounds at home. This has given rise to the era of Sanatoriums and Nursing Homes at hill stations. In Railways we are still issuing Change of airContinue reading “Pill to Kill disease”
Father Damien
In 1856, the Hawaiian government forcibly quarantined its lepers on the remote island of Molokai. Father Damien was a Belgian priest who, at great risk to his own health, moved to Molokai in 1873 to care for the leper community. Father Damien built an orphanage on the island. He would change sufferers’ bandages with hisContinue reading “Father Damien”
Saint Vitus Dance
The “Dancing Plague” One day in 1518 in Strasbourg, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, a woman started spontaneously dancing in the street, and she only stopped dancing when she collapsed from exhaustion. Other townsfolk began joining in as well, jerking their limbs in every which way. More and more people danced until bloodContinue reading “Saint Vitus Dance”
