Many of the diseases of yester Year in the United States are but history fortunetley. They took their toll on the people that lived during the 1700 and 1800 era. Of these epidemics thousands of lives were lost. The most common of the diseases that took so many lives in the 1700′s was Yellow Fever and Small Pox. During the 1800′s the main disease was Cholera. In 1793 Philadelphia was our nation’s capital and during that year alone in less than 4 months 4,000 people perished from Yellow Fever which wa about 10 % of Philadelphia’s population. The epidemic was so severe that is shut down the nation’s government and the people of that great city fled!! Also in the same century in 1762 (one hundred years before the Civil War and just 13 years before the beginning of the Revolutionary War) another epidemic hit and this time the Disease was Small Pox killing hundreds of Americans and decimating the Amaerican Indian population of the New World. Catarrah is a disease that one doesn’t hear much about today and it was a disease that meant everything from the Common Cold to an Upset Stomach. It was not usually fatal. Books and diaries written during the 1800′s mentioned the disease of “Ague”. It was an all encompassing term for the symptoms of fever, chills, aches and pains, nosebleeds and a cough and what the folks had was actually later diagnosed as the disease of Malaria. Consumption later called Tuberculosis and still later know as “TB” was also a disease that took many lives in the 1880′s and early 1900′s. Sanitariums were set up where these patients were placed far away from the general population in an attempt to isolated the disease. Many children were affected even into the 1900′s with the following diseases which fortunately we have now immunizations for. These childhood diseases were: Mumps, Measles, Chicken-Pox, Diptheria, Scarlet Fever, Whooping Cough and Poliomyelitis (known also as Polio).
Today’s Medicine and Diseases
So much of what we know today like basic hand-washing was not known to our ancestors before 1900. The advancement in medicine of the last century has been amazing!! Immunizations against the fatal diseases listed above has nearly stifled their existence. The development of technology and advancements in research continues to make us a healthier people and the diseases of Yester-Year in the United States are a difficult and sad part of the history of our past, Yet unfortunately with the complexity of our modern day culture it currently ties up the hands of the Researcher and many cures like for Cancer are held up because of the Greed of Money and the Challenges of Politics. It takes 14 years to get a new medication from the Pharmaceutical lab into the hands of the Public. Then it takes an immense amount of advertisement and education to tell the public about the new medication. However in the mix of complexity, the Robotics surgeries are fast growing and becoming the tool of our advanced society making it safer and healthier for our ever growing population. Hospitals now have shorter stays and more care is being done in patients’ homes. In the days to come more diseased and patient’s cases will be diagnosed and even treated by the use of computer technology in our own homes. As with so many things, today’s medicine is going through some major changes as we continue to live in our complex and diversified world.