As we continued to explore how understanding and education around health care has developed it is inevitable that we will discuss the advent and initiation of epidemiology.
Epidemiology is the study of illness’ and how they are transmitted from the environment to people or from person to person. Keep in mind that illness was originally thought of as divine will and as such humans were only able to prevent illness by keeping the supernatural powers happy.
In 1853 the father of modern field based epidemiology John Snow was attempting to discover why different outbreaks of cholera were occurring in London England. John Snow focused on those who were getting sick, where they lived and what they had in common. His research led to one of the most famous maps in epidemiology.
Looking at this map (now known as a spot map) the black dots represent the households where people had symptoms of cholera. There is a clear concentration around pump A. John Snow did further research and learned that pump B was avoided due to the water being “contaminated” and pump C was to inconvenient for most peoples. As a result pump A was the primary source of drinking water for nearly everyone who had symptoms of cholera. John snow effectively identified the pump as a source of illness and took steps to prevent illness in the population in the future. Thus began modern epidemiology.
Fresh water is an excellent source for bacterial growth, and with John Snows research being completed nearly 50 years before the microscope the only way medical minds were able to predict what would be causing wide spread illness was with spot maps like that of John Snows showing the common denominator between the sick.
It can be argued that John Snow was not only the father of epidemiology but also one of the forefathers of evidenced based medicine.
Rescources
https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson1/section2.html
Learning How To Care 