HLTB21H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Max Joseph Von Pettenkofer, Gastroenteritis, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker
11 Sep 2013
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Father of public health, german chemical society. Failed theory of the cause of cholera, insightful" theory for causation of cholera. His theory postulated that there was a factor in the air called x but x couldn"t cause the disease itself so a factor called y was required, which was found in the soil and united with. Y it gave rise to z ; a miasma. Believed that the disease arises from bad vapors and not contagious agents[animalcules/microbes. Their beliefs about disease held sway until. Cholera swept across russia into munich, pettenkofer"s hometown. Epidemics started in the slums, poor suffered most but even killed those with money. It was believed to travel in the air, breathed in by all. Physicians such as pettenkofer thought its causes were filth, laziness, neglected hygiene, he was certain it was due to unhealthy environment. He said solution to this disease wasn"t cure but prevention.
