Epidemiology is the study of causes, patterns, and consequences of health conditions and diseases in certain population groups. It is the foundation of public health that underpins evidence-based medicine by identifying disease risk factors and preventive medicine objectives (LibreTexts, 2021). Epidemiologists assist with study design, collecting and statistically analyzing data, as well as with interpreting and disseminating results. Epidemiology has helped with the development of methodologies used in clinical and public health research, and knowing its history is essential to continue to evolve in the right direction.
The first epidemiologist is considered to be Hippocrates, a Greek physician who is deemed one of the most prominent figures in medicine’s history. He strived to find a logic in disease and was the first person to have studied the relationship between sickness occurring and environmental impacts. According to LibreTexts (2021), Hippocrates believed in disease in the human body is caused by a disproportion of the four Humors, that is, ‘atoms’ of water, fire, earth, and air. The cure was in the removal or addition of a particular Humor so that the body balance could be restored. This belief resulted in the utilization of such practices as dieting and bloodletting in medicine.
Another contribution of Hippocrates to epidemiology was his drawing of the difference between ‘endemic’ and ‘epidemic’. In that way, he distinguished between diseases ‘living within’ the population and ones that ‘came from the outside’. As per Frérot et al. (2018), this is where the term of the study itself comes from, and it was likely first used in 1802 by Joaquín de Villalba, a Spanish physician, in his Epidemiología Española. From then on, ‘epidemiology’ has started to be used to refer to the study of epidemics.
Some of the earliest theories about disease origins stated that it was mainly caused by human luxury. However, LibreTexts (2021) notes that, in the mid-16th century, a Veronese doctor Girolamo Fracastoro suggested that the very small, almost invisible particles causing sickness were alive. They were believed to have the ability to spread through the air, multiply independently, and be fire-destroyable. The scholar wrote a book that registered him being the first to encourage personal and environmental hygiene for disease prevention. When a microscope powerful enough was developed by Anton van Leeuwenhoek in 1675, visual evidence of Fracastoro’s theory was provided (LibreTexts, 2021). The germ theory of disease became an incredibly important discovery that led to identifying actual organisms causing many diseases.
Modern epidemiology has its heroes, one of which is Dr. John Snow. He is known for his research into the causes of cholera epidemics in the 19th century (LibreTexts, 2021). His identifying the Broad Street pump to be the Soho epidemic cause is deemed epidemiology’s classic example. Snow used chlorine to try and purify the water and removed the water pump handle, which ended the outbreak. This is perceived as a key event in public health history and as the constitutive event in the science of epidemiology that helped form public health policies worldwide.
It cannot be argued that historical perspectives are invaluable to shaping future work in public health and clinical medicine. For one, Rampton et al. (2022) state, it is essential that modern specialists realize that both the heaviness of disease and the approach to therapy have altered over time. Therefore, it is critical to have a disease theory to explain the growth and decline of various conditions, and an understanding of effectiveness to explain how and why therapeutic practices evolve. These are the invaluable insights that can be provided by history, or, to be more precise, the conclusions and experiences of scholars in the past without whom there would be no future.
In conclusion, epidemiology is the cornerstone of current clinical medicine and public health. Numerous development of physicians and researchers of the past resulted in a better understanding of the causes of disease and improved disease prevention. Further bearing on the experiences of the past will help to continue scientific research and the system of healthcare evolve to ensure people everywhere are as healthy as possible.
References
Frérot, M., Lefebvre, A., Aho, S., Callier, P., Astruc, K., & Aho Glélé, L. S. (2018). What is epidemiology? Changing definitions of epidemiology 1978-2017.PLOS One, 13(12), 1-27.
LibreTexts. (2021). Microbiology. Boundless.
Rampton, V., Böhmer, M., & Winkler, A. (2022). Medical technologies past and present: How history helps to understand the digital era.Journal of Medical Humanities, 43(2), 343-364.