The last half century has witnessed two landmark events in medical
history. The 1970s saw euphoria about the defeat of one of humankind's
oldest disease scourges with the global eradication of smallpox. To set
against this, the 2020s are experiencing the pandemic ravages of new
viral diseases,
of which COVID-19 is currently the most potent. But it is only the
latest of a succession of threats. A Geography of Infection explores
the distinctive spatial patterns and processes by which such infectious
diseases spread from place to place and can grow from local and regional
epidemics into
global pandemics.
This resource focuses initially on the local scale of doctors' practices
and small islands where epidemic outbreaks are slight in the numbers
infected and in geographical extent. Such local area studies raise two
questions. First, how and where do epidemic diseases emerge and second,
why do more
diseases appear to be emerging now? To approach such questions implies a
shift in spatial gear from painting epidemics with a fine-tipped local
brush to an expanded palette on which doctors' practices and small
islands are replaced by regional and global populations. Simultaneously,
time bands are
extended backwards to the origins of civilization and forwards into the
twenty-first century. It eventually leads to a consideration of global
pandemics - both historical (for example, plague, cholera and influenza)
and contemporary (HIV/AIDS and COVID-19) and examines the ways the
spread of
infection can be prevented. All chapters are extensively illustrated
with full-colour diagrams and maps - some of which are in colour for the
first time.
Bringing together the authors' collective 150 years of experience in
research, mapping, and writing on spatial aspects of medical history,
this is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the spread,
control, and eradication of epidemic and pandemic diseases.
