Heredity and Infection: The History of Disease TransmissionJean-Paul Gaudilliere, Ilana Löwy, Illana Lowy, Jean-Paul Gaudillière Ideas about the transmission of disease have long formed the core of modern biology and medicine. Heredity and Infection examines their development over the last century. Two scientific revolutions - the bacteriological revolution of the 1890s and the genetic revolution at the start of the twentieth century - acted as the catalysts of major change in our understanding of the causes of illness. As well as being great scientific achievements, these were social and political watersheds that reconfigured the medical and administrative means of intervention. By establishing a clear distinction between transmission by infection and genetic transmission, this shift was instrumental in separating hygiene from eugenism. The authors argue that the popular perception of such a sharp divide stabilized only after 1945 when the use of antibiotics to end epidemics became commonplace. For health professionals the separation has never become an absolute one, and the book examines the various blends of heredity and infection that have preoccupied biology, medicine and the social sciences. Heredity and Infection recontructs the changing epidemiology of such historically important pathologies as tuberculosis , cancer and AIDS. In doing so, it demonstrates the role of experimental models, medical practices and cultural images in the making of contemporary biochemical knowledge. |
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Other editions - View all
Heredity and Infection: The History of Disease Transmission Jean-Paul Gaudilliére,Ilana Löwy Limited preview - 2012 |
Heredity and Infection: The History of Disease Transmission Jean-Paul Gaudilliére,Ilana Löwy No preview available - 2015 |
Common terms and phrases
agent AIDS American animal Apert bacillus bacteria bacterial bacteriological Beard biochemical biological body British Medical Journal cancer causes cells century clinical clinicians constitutional consumption culture degeneration environmental epidemic epidemiology etiology eugenics explain factors familial diseases France French gene genetic germ theory hepatitis hereditarian hereditary heredity History HIV infection horizontal host human hygiene immunity immunological individual infectious diseases inherited inoculation Institute Jackson Laboratory Koch Koch's laboratory Lockhart-Mummery London Mark's Hospital médecine medicine Mendelian mice microbe molecular morbid muscular dystrophy mutation papilloma Paris pathogenic pathology patients phenylketonuria Phthisis physicians physiological polyposis population predisposition problem produced proteins public health rabbits race racial Report resistance Rockefeller Archive Center Rockefeller University Rockefeller University Archives role Rous Sand Science scientific segregation Shope social specific studies susceptibility syphilis Tarrytown terrain therapy transmission tubercle tubercular tuberculosis tumor viruses ultracentrifuge University Press vaccine variables Verschuer vertical viral virulence virus Webster Wyckoff
Bibliographic information
| Title | Heredity and Infection: The History of Disease Transmission Volume 14 of Studies in the history of science, technology, and medicine |
| Editors | Jean-Paul Gaudilliere, Ilana Löwy, Illana Lowy, Jean-Paul Gaudillière |
| Contributor | Singapore. Ministry of Health |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Psychology Press, 2001 |
| ISBN | 0415271207, 9780415271202 |
| Length | 383 pages |
| Subjects | › Medical / Histology |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |