PS280 Study Guide - Final Guide: Medical Diagnosis, Miasma Theory, Scurvy
Document Summary
In 1700s people believed disease resulted from miasmas (noxious odours that emanated from soil polluted w waste products) Miasmatists believed the way to prevent disease was to clean up the environment. Through development of sewage disposal / sanitation campaigns, rates of many diseases dropped. Some nutritional diseases were reduced w/o knowledge of precise cause of disease. Ex british sailors became known as limeys bc they learned to prevent scurvy by eating citrus fruits, long before it was known that this disease resulted from deficiency of vitamin c. Useful perspective for mh bc etiology is usually complex and impossible to pin down completely. Next major impetus to field of prevention was public health approach, based on epidemiology. Public health researchers tend to focus on three components: (1) characteristics of the host (person who contracts the disease) (2) characteristics of environment (stressors) (3) the agent (manner in which disease is transmitted to the host)
