Contagionists

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The term contagionists (Latin contagium = the contagious touch, the contagion) describes the historical adherents of the so-called contagion theory. Early on, they represented the view, later proven to be correct, that illnesses occur through the transmission of disease seeds ( seminaria ) or animated germs ( contagia viva ) through contact ( contagione ) from person to person or through infected goods or objects. Their opinion has long remained in the minority.

The idea of ​​living pathogens was first introduced by Marcus Terentius Varro in the 1st century BC. Chr. Formulated. In contrast, the followers of miasmatology believed that impurities or poisons that rose from the ground and were caused, among other things, by human rubbish, are the cause of epidemics. Most contagionists saw no contradiction in adding or adopting elements of the miasm to their theory. On the other hand, it was radical miasmatists or anti-contagionists who fundamentally questioned any infection and thus actually (and subsequently repeatedly) triggered the debate. The two basic epidemiological orientations suggested different measures for combating and preventing the plague - each with different political implications.

This controversy ended in the 19th century with research by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch , which proved the contagion theory.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Zeno: Dictionary entry Latin-German on "contagium". Karl Ernst Georges: Detailed ... Retrieved May 5, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Something Weird In Die Zeit , 1970
  3. ↑ Christian Cwik, Stefan Rabitsch, Mark Stieger: What we can learn from Pest & Co. In: ORF. April 25, 2020, accessed May 5, 2020 .
  4. ^ A b Franz Mauelshagen: Reinvention of a medical-political controversy - Johann Jakob Scheuchzer and the debate between contagionists and anti-contagionists during the Provencal plague epidemic of 1720–1722 . Ed .: Cardanus. Yearbook for the history of science. 7th edition. Palatina-Verlag, Wiesloch 2007, ISBN 978-3-932608-26-1 , p. 149-185 ( researchgate.net ).
  5. ↑ On the fundamental compatibility of the concept of contagion with the miasma theory, cf. Vivian Nutton: Thee Reception of Fracastoro's Theory of Contagion: The Seed that Fell among Thorns ?, p. 198: “The word contagion, especially if defined as involving indirect as well as direct transmission of harmful material, was far from incompatible with a theory of noxious air. "

literature

  • Richard Mead : A short discourse concerning pestilential contagion, and the methods to be used to prevent it. Sam. Buckley & Ralph Smith, London 1720 (digitized version) This work was written on the occasion of the plague epidemic in Marseille. In the context of the then newly flared up controversy between contagionists and anti-contagionists, Mead declared himself a supporter of the contagionists.
  • Alexander Kocher: The plague epidemic in Marseille, 1720–1722. Its importance in medical thought. Underiggenthal 1967
  • M Hamann: On the history of prophylaxis with special consideration of the dog. , Dissertation, FU Berlin, 2004
  • R Gottschalk: Epidemic Hygiene Aspects. In Infektiologie des Gastrointestinal Tract , 2006, pp. 465-75. ISBN 978-3-540-41359-2