The year 1510 marked the first recognition of pandemic influenza. The disease arrived in Sicily along trade routes from Africa and spread along the Mediterranean coasts. When a new epidemic swept over Europe in 1557, afflicting Sicily, the physician Giovan Filippo Ingrassia pursued a new approach to pandemic control. Since an influenza pandemic was a public health emergency, he conceived pandemic planning as a collaborative process between health care officials and the Government. He also highlighted the importance of strengthening influenza surveillance as a means for the early detection of an emerging pandemic. While the Sicilian Government had to provide for the community in terms of prevention, treatment was a physicians’ responsibility. On September 18th, 1558, Ingrassia held a public lecture introducing an innovative position as regards epidemiology and public medicine: territorial control was the answer to the chaos caused by epidemics.
When early modern Europe caught the flu. A scientific account of pandemic influenza in sixteenth century Sicily
Rosamaria Alibrandi
2018-01-01
Abstract
The year 1510 marked the first recognition of pandemic influenza. The disease arrived in Sicily along trade routes from Africa and spread along the Mediterranean coasts. When a new epidemic swept over Europe in 1557, afflicting Sicily, the physician Giovan Filippo Ingrassia pursued a new approach to pandemic control. Since an influenza pandemic was a public health emergency, he conceived pandemic planning as a collaborative process between health care officials and the Government. He also highlighted the importance of strengthening influenza surveillance as a means for the early detection of an emerging pandemic. While the Sicilian Government had to provide for the community in terms of prevention, treatment was a physicians’ responsibility. On September 18th, 1558, Ingrassia held a public lecture introducing an innovative position as regards epidemiology and public medicine: territorial control was the answer to the chaos caused by epidemics.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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