When Germs Travel (April 1, 2009)

Howard Markel, M.D., Ph.D. (George E. Wantz M.D. Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases; Director, Center for the History of Medicine, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI) author of When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics that have Invaded America Since 1900 and the Fears they have Unleashed (2004) presented his Leit Motivs model for examining epidemics in general and highlighting the impact that our current global market place has on the transmission of germs/microbes. Dr. Markels remarks included descriptions of frameworks used by the public to view and respond to infections; the distance, speed, and frequency of human travel; the emergence and re-emergence of international sanitary conventions and laws; and the effects of widespread media coverage. In conclusion, Dr. Markel encouraged ongoing surveillance and prevention that incorporates potential harmful effects of goods transportation and global warming and a need for cultivating "informed concern" on the future development of epidemics.

Full Title: When Germs Travel: Social, Economic, Political, and Cultural Aspects of Contagious Crises Across Time.

Co-presented with the History of the Health Sciences Lecture Series and the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Medical
• Center
• Hour
• University
• of
• Virginia
• School
• Medicine
• Disease
• Outbreaks
• Communicable
• Diseases
• Public
• Health
• History
• Policy
• World
• Influenza
• Human
• Plague
• Cholera
• Emigrants
• and
• Immigrants
• SARS
• Tuberculosis
• Severe
• Acute
• Respiratory
• Syndrome