infectious disease Archives - British Society for the History of Medicine

How deadly was smallpox? Rethinking a familiar statistic

Lee Coppack — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:22:34 +0000

A familiar figure appears repeatedly in textbooks and scholarship alike: that smallpox killed 20–30 percent of those infected. It is a striking statistic—but how reliable is it? Eric Schneider and Romola Davenport have revisited this question. In 1707, as smallpox spread across Iceland, one observer described a haunting scene: farms stood silent, livestock wandered unattended, […]

The post How deadly was smallpox? Rethinking a familiar statistic appeared first on British Society for the History of Medicine.

The Bulletin: A meaning making mechanism for British polio disabled people

Lee Coppack — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 20:32:58 +0000

Polio is highly culturally evocative – vaccines on sugar lumps, children in callipers and lifetimes in iron-lung respirators. The Bulletin, published by The British Polio Fellowship, provides an additional perspective. It gives an insight into how polio-disabled people understood and wished to represent themselves. Charlotte Stobart explains. In 1939, Patricia Carey, who contracted polio in […]

The post The Bulletin: A meaning making mechanism for British polio disabled people appeared first on British Society for the History of Medicine.

‘Wilson’s balls’: TB treatment in the 1940s-1950s

Lee Coppack — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 11:42:21 +0000

A chance encounter with a jam jar of what appeared to be old ping pong balls in the (currently closed) Bakelite Museum in Somerset, set Christine Gowing on a fascinating journey to discover their link to pulmonary tuberculosis. In 1945, someone died every ten minutes from pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in the United States. Nearly 50 […]

The post ‘Wilson’s balls’: TB treatment in the 1940s-1950s appeared first on British Society for the History of Medicine.

One-way systems to keep patients separate

Lee Coppack — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 14:14:56 +0000

The Corona virus pandemic prevention measures were not the first one-way system in British health care, as William Evans explains. One feature of the measures imposed or encouraged by the UK government to stop Corona virus spreading was one-way systems for human traffic. In premises such as doctor’s surgeries, one-way systems aimed to reduce close […]

The post One-way systems to keep patients separate appeared first on British Society for the History of Medicine.

Poems and Pandemics in the Plague Village

Edward Wawrzynczak — Tue, 26 May 2020 16:38:13 +0000

Simon Armitage’s newly released poem, ‘Lockdown‘, recalls the Eyam plague of 1665/6, effectively evoking feelings that reverberate in our current situation, and remind us that we are not the first to find ourselves in such a position. In Lockdown, the Poet Laureate touches on some of the most notable features of the story. ‘Thimbles brimmed […]

The post Poems and Pandemics in the Plague Village appeared first on British Society for the History of Medicine.

Herd Immunity – what’s in a name?

Edward Wawrzynczak — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 12:29:32 +0000

“Herd immunity” recently made a controversial appearance in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic. What does the phrase mean, where did it come from, and how helpful is it today? As of March 2020, the OED defines it as, “resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within a population that results if a […]

The post Herd Immunity – what’s in a name? appeared first on British Society for the History of Medicine.

Can history help us in the COVID-19 epidemic?

Edward Wawrzynczak — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 13:32:28 +0000

In this time of great uncertainty around the impact that Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will have on populations and health systems globally, can we look to history to help us in its management? Many have already drawn comparisons between COVID-19 and the 1918 influenza pandemic, also known as ‘Spanish Flu’. The 1918 influenza pandemic which […]

The post Can history help us in the COVID-19 epidemic? appeared first on British Society for the History of Medicine.

Tuberculosis, Philately and the history of the ‘Christmas seal’

Edward Wawrzynczak — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 12:28:42 +0000

Christmas has long been recognised as a time of charity and fundraising. Perhaps familiar to some is the ‘Christmas seal’ – a label placed on post over the Christmas period – to raise awareness and funds for charitable organisations. Christmas seals fall into a category known as ‘cinderella stamps’: items that resemble stamps but cannot […]

The post Tuberculosis, Philately and the history of the ‘Christmas seal’ appeared first on British Society for the History of Medicine.

The “Spanish” Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19

Edward Wawrzynczak — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 23:01:17 +0000

In this centenary year there have been several new books, articles and television programmes about the pandemic which killed between 50 and 100 million people worldwide. Much of this writing, however, has been very America-centric, and has ignored the influenza that had been spreading in Europe from the autumn of 1916. Although this version of […]

The post The “Spanish” Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 appeared first on British Society for the History of Medicine.