What is yellow fever? – History of medicine
Kids with yellow fever in Mississippi about 1870. See how all the people are white? The hospital wasn't letting black kids in, or hiring black women as nurses. Where did [...]
What is typhus? History of diseases
A woman with typhus Nobody seems to have caught typhus before about 1450 AD, so the disease probably didn't exist until then. Typhus is an infection caused by tiny germs (bacteria) [...]
What is typhoid fever? History of diseases
Typhoid fever: A person with typhoid rash (Iran) Is it typhoid or typhus? Typhoid fever isn't the same thing as typhus at all. You catch typhus from being bit by lice that [...]
What is tuberculosis? History of diseases
A child with tuberculosis What is tuberculosis? Tuberculosis is a lung disease caused by germs. Today we can usually cure it with antibiotics. But in antiquity there was no cure. Many people died [...]
What was smallpox? History of disease
A baby with smallpox (from the CDC) - History of smallpox What was smallpox? Smallpox was a very serious disease caused by a virus. Many people died of it. Smallpox caused [...]
What is opium? World history of medicine and drugs
Opium poppy flower Opium comes from a kind of poppy flower. It evolved around 100 million years ago in West Asia and Central Asia. People probably realized as soon as they got to West Asia, about 60,000 [...]
What is measles? History of diseases
A kid with measles Symptoms of measles Measles is a sickness that first makes you feel sick, with a fever, a cough, and a runny nose. Then it gives you [...]
What is malaria? History of diseases and medicine
A baby with malaria (from World Health Organization) - Malaria history How do you get malaria? You catch malaria by being bitten by a mosquito that has malaria parasites living inside it. [...]
Influenza – History of Medicine
History of influenza: Influenza comes from chickens: this is a clay hen whistle from Mohenjo Daro (ca. 2700 BC, now in Brooklyn Museum) What is influenza? Influenza is a virus that mostly [...]
History of medicine
Chinese drawing of the organs (about 1200) - History of medicine Doctors' medicine There are really three branches of medicine in antiquity and through the Middle Ages. One of these [...]
