What did people believe caused diseases in the 19th century?

In 1864, Louis Pasteur proved that germs caused disease. Building on Pasteur’s work, other researchers, like Robert Koch, discovered the bacteria which caused other diseases. By 1900, scientists had discovered that viruses also caused diseases and malaria was carried by mosquitoes.

How were diseases treated in the 19th century?

In the 19th century, illnesses, including those of children, were treated at home. That pertained to urban as well as rural children alike. In the impoverished Polish countryside, medical treatment was largely confined to the folk-medicine practices that had been passed down from one generation to another.

What were health conditions like in the 19th century?

Diseases such as pulmonary tuberculosis (often called consumption) were endemic; others such as cholera, were frighteningly epidemic. In the morbidity statistics, infectious and respiratory causes predominated (the latter owing much to the sulphurous fogs known as pea-soupers).

What was the biggest health problem in England in the 19th century?

Infectious diseases were the greatest cause of Victorian mortality. Most of these, such as smallpox, tuberculosis and influenza, were old scourges, but in 1831 Britain suffered its first epidemic of cholera. Slowly it was understood that it was spread by water contaminated by sewage.

What was the leading cause of death in the 19th century?

In 1900, the three leading causes of death were pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), and diarrhea and enteritis, which (together with diphtheria) caused one third of all deaths (Figure 2).

What was life like for poor people during the Victorian era?

A poor Victorian family would have lived in a very small house with only a couple of rooms on each floor. The very poorest families had to make do with even less – some houses were home to two, three or even four families. The houses would share toilets and water, which they could get from a pump or a well.

What did doctors think about epidemics in the 19th century?

But theirs were always minority opinions, and in the early 19th Century, miasmatic explanations of epidemic diseases still seemed to most doctors to provide the best fit.

What was the role of Medicine in the 19th century?

But overall the 19th century is notable more for systematic monitoring of disease aetiology than for curative treatment. Like other learned professions, medicine grew in size and regulation.

What did scientists discover in the 19th century?

Treatment In 1864, Louis Pasteur proved that germs caused disease. Building on Pasteur’s work, other researchers, like Robert Koch, discovered the bacteria which caused other diseases. By 1900, scientists had discovered that viruses also caused diseases and malaria was carried by mosquitoes.

How did doctors view the origin of disease?

Doctors traditionally viewed diseases as originating within the human body. The ancient Greek Hippocrates elaborated a theory of four body ‘humours’ that dominated Western medicine for two millennia. These humours (blood, bile, black bile and phlegm) were each produced within the body, and their proper balance constituted health.

But theirs were always minority opinions, and in the early 19th Century, miasmatic explanations of epidemic diseases still seemed to most doctors to provide the best fit.

What was the goal of Medicine in the 19th century?

The main goal at the time was to prevent and control these diseases to limit more deaths, but the increasing population in urban areas made that more and more difficult. As people moved into these urban areas, they also brought a plethora of diseases. There needed to be a solution. To accomplish this, the society pursued the process of sanitation.

Why did doctors worry about the spread of disease?

Until germ theory was widely accepted and viruses were discovered in the 1890s, Americans looked to the environment to understand the spread of disease. Nineteenth-century doctors blamed miasma, a noxious form of “bad air,” and worried about the poisonous fumes and putrid smells of America’s growing cities.

Why was germ theory important in the 19th century?

First, germ theory separated the disease from the person suffering from the disease. Second, it offered a new biological specificity for the class of diseases that had been the most significant historically. These two ideas were fully appreciated only in the second half of the 19th Century.