the impact of epidemics on the health of nation

• 1867 - Louis Pasteur developed his germ theory of disease.
• First half of 19th century, overcrowding and lack of sanitation and clean water meant that disease was rampant and life expectancy of w/c was low
• People living in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions without easy access to a supply of clean water housed body lice, which spread typhus fever, from which many died. Typhus epidemics in 1837 and 1839, an outbreak in 1847 killed 10,000 people in North-west England alone.
• Influenza, scarlet fever, TB and measles were endemic and were often killers.
• Typhoid and diarrhoea were common
• Cholera hit Britain in 4 massive epidemics: 1831-32, 1848-49, 1854-55, 1866. The first epidemic killed 31,000 and the second 62,000