Tag: contagious disease

From Variolation to Cowpox Vaccination: The First Steps Towards Eradicating Smallpox

May 2, 2014

*The following blog post was written by Samantha Sandassie, Queen’s University PH.D candidate/teaching fellow Edward Jenner looms large in the history of vaccination.  Known today as the “father of immunology,” Jenner is most famous for developing a vaccine against smallpox in the 1790s.  The vaccine brilliantly made use of common knowledge.  Milkmaids were known for … More From Variolation to Cowpox Vaccination: The First Steps Towards Eradicating Smallpox

A Fighting Chance: Disease, Public Health, and the Military, Part 3

October 8, 2013

*the following blog post was written by 2013 Margaret Angus Research Fellow Robert Engen As we saw in the last blog post, from a medical point of view the two military campaigns to capture the Dutch island of Walcheren – the first in 1809, the second in 1944 – could not have been more different. … More A Fighting Chance: Disease, Public Health, and the Military, Part 3

A Fighting Chance: Disease, Public Health, and the Military, Part 2

September 30, 2013

*the following blog post was written by 2013 Margaret Angus Research Fellow Robert Engen     Two of the most remarkable stories in military medical history happened in the exact same place: Walcheren, a strip of land that sits like a cork in the mouth of the Scheldt River running through the Netherlands and Belgium. … More A Fighting Chance: Disease, Public Health, and the Military, Part 2

Raising Awareness about Tuberculosis – World TB Day, 24 March 2012 Pt. 2

March 23, 2012

Why We Should Care About TB Many people in the West have never thought about tuberculosis as a risk to their health.  Tuberculosis is often considered to be a disease of the past.  In 2011 in Canada the incidence of any form of tuberculosis was only 5 per 100,000, according to the World Health Organization … More Raising Awareness about Tuberculosis – World TB Day, 24 March 2012 Pt. 2

Raising Awareness about Tuberculosis – World TB Day, 24 March 2012 Pt. 1

March 23, 2012

What is TB? Tuberculosis is caused by an infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, rod-shaped bacteria that are spread mostly through air-born droplets or dust micro-particles of dried sputum.  Once inhaled, the body’s immune system typically reacts by engulfing the bacteria, forming a tubercle that contains the bacteria to help keep it from spreading.  In most cases, … More Raising Awareness about Tuberculosis – World TB Day, 24 March 2012 Pt. 1

History of Health Care: Transformation of the Hospital

December 1, 2011

The Main Building of the Kingston Hospital was built between 1833 and 1835, however due to lack of operating funds did not open until 1845, with incorporation in 1849 when a lay board was appointed. They had a mandate to operate the hospital as a charitable institution required to “supply necessities and relieve the condition … More History of Health Care: Transformation of the Hospital

History of Health Care: Quarantine and Isolation

November 3, 2011

Before the nineteenth century, quarantine and isolation had been practiced in an effort to protect the community from contagious diseases such as plague and smallpox in the absence of specific treatment. Such diseases were considered contagious even though the cause and method of transmission were not known. Two important developments occurred during the last half … More History of Health Care: Quarantine and Isolation