the coming plague part 2 of 2 laurie garrett

It was then that the Ebola virus emerged, soon followed by Legionella pneumophila and later by HIV, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and a host of antibiotic-resistant organisms. Ironically, these discoveries coincided with a resurgence of infectious disease. But in 1976, with the discovery of hybridoma cell lines and monoclonal antibodies, the pendulum again swung away from environmental issues and toward a focus on microorganisms and molecular biology. With the birth of the World Health Organization in 1948, environmental engineering and infection control joined forces. During the 1920s, an interest in the ecology of disease resurfaced. The revelations by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch in the 1880s and 1890s sparked a revolution in science and public health that directed attention toward microbes and away from environmental reform. Soon after, mortality from infectious disease leveled off and fell, decades before the discovery of microbes. Sanitary- and environmental-reform movements generated the British Public Health Act of 1848, creating sewer and water systems, paving roads, and improving housing, food safety and occupational safety. Edwin Chadwick in the United Kingdom, Rudolf Virchow in Germany and John Griscom in the United States drew attention to the environmental causes of disease and became social activists. In the mid 19th century, scientists were divided into two camps: the contagionists and the anticontagionists (or sanitarians).

Her dominant theme is that the health of the public must regain its historical role as the goal of economic development and as a primary driver of public policy. In Betrayal of Trust she documents our failure to take action, showing that public health has been dealt a body blow: The societal scaffolding for it is breaking down, and public health systems have been eviscerated. In her Pulitzer Prize–winning book The Coming Plague, Garrett tackled lack of recognition of the problem. But in contrast to the populace of the 19th century, we are unaware of the turnaround and are unprepared to take action to address its causes.

Today's resurgence of infectious disease also follows a long period of increasing life spans, as well as an epidemiological transition to chronic diseases.

The coming plague part 2 of 2 laurie garrett