The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson is a true story of terrifying outbreak of cholera and how Dr. John Snow and reverend Henry Whitehead uses their knowledge of disease to find out how prevalent over the whole country, London. The disease may be unfamiliar to them but not common to the millions of people around the country, whose living conditions and sanitation processes are not as good or advanced as ours. The story reflects the world through the wide varieties of disciplines, including history, science and culture, etc. During the Victorian era, England’s class distinctions and prejudices has affected the people’s understanding of the bad science behind the cholera through prejudices and it’s miasma theory which leads them to cause changes in …show more content…
the cities, in science epidemiology but not by bacteriology, and in modern world by building infrastructures, which is the belief that after long time, everything bad happening is good for you. Epidemiology research to examine the relationships at the molecular level and disease was broadly named “molecular epidemiology”. Epidemiology is because people of the London had opinion on the spread of the cholera and also had a belief that it spread through air which is the miasma theory. Instead of finding out the real scientific reason behind it which is the bacteria that causing the spread of the disease. I think people still kind of believe in epidemiology today too but today’s technological world would stop you from that belief which shows that people are still the same but it is that culture that change overtime through science, technology and people’s talent. Ghost Map is a wonderful illustration of how science and public policy interplay.
The uncertainty of the disease could be discovered through predictable patterns that made the polluting actions detectable for the invisible bacteria within the urban population of the London. In recent decades, England had experienced considerable urbanization. The poor lived in the section of cities that make unsanitary seem like a kind term. Disease and epidemics were much more prevalent in the area surrounded by the poor. The poor were frequently blamed for their living conditions and eventually the disease. So, it is important to have sanitation and cleanliness all over the places. For instance, today’s the nursing students. Pure air is the single most important focus for a nurse in caring for patients, eventually leads to the modern world’s facilities and advance technologies of ventilating rooms and evacuating sewers of vaporous matter. This may be helpful in reducing the disease spread and deaths. But it actually does help prevent the spread of the disease today. As we can see that the people’s average living age has been increase than what it was before because of the cure and …show more content…
preventions. The evidence was overwhelming that cholera was an airborne disease, but the interpretation of the evidence was completely wrong because it does not mean that because poor stayed up and air at the top is more contaminating that is why they getting disease more or because they are poor, they are spreading disease which were the cultural and social anxiety made people believe in anything. It could be some other circumstances that causing disease to the poor more than the wealthy but not because of their cultural identity or personality in the society. It’s all depend on how and through what the disease is spreading. What is that connected to the poor and not to the wealthy as much as to the poor. Which mentality is gone today people think more scientifically on why such a thing is happening. Through social and cultural anxieties of the spread of the disease cholera, social and political fear could be address which is the possibility that still produces today and recognizes our concern for the predominant infections from Victorian fears. Later, the government allocates the money to clean up the rivers, as well as installation a water sewage system that would bring fresh water into the city and take the waste water out, which will improve the water quality. So, after that change the disease spread or the contamination should stop but it did not, which is the supporting evidence for the miasma theory that it is a vapor causing disease. This was an example of the selective observation which means to narrow down the research and gaining the particular conclusion. Actually this was time consuming in earlier days but today it can be faster because of the advanced technology. This has improved the condition of the cities and began the new era of modernization. The UN General Assembly declared the access to clean water and sanitation a basic human right which is surprising. How, ever the lack of these fundamental infrastructures is among the causes of the pandemic of cholera that still affects millions of people worldwide. Like most epidemic diseases, cholera exposes the impact of environmental and health issues on geopolitics as it impinges on socio-economic situations and national and international security. It betrays a figurative alignment of anxieties about infection and concerns for political instability related to poverty, overpopulation, poor living conditions and economic and social inequality that renders disease a cultural construct as well as the product of diseases. The production of these contagious vapors and odors dovetailed nicely with prejudices society had about the irresponsible poor and their living habits.
But imagine what would have happened if snow had not challenged the consensus or if his challenges had not been furthered by others? I think that people would still believe in the miasma theory and disease would continue spreading and would kill millions and millions of people until someone else don’t think about the causes of the disease. What if following the precautionary principle, England had invested fortunes indoor elimination and not addressed water supplies? The miasma theory would be the best theory that they had. What would future generations think of them for not acted to clear the air? There would be many diseases because of the contaminated air. Now in retrospect, what would we have thought of them today for investing so many resources in pointless endeavors?
Today, we have issues like global warming, but there are incontrovertible evidence about CO2 causing the global warming, the correlation between CO2 and warming makes the conclusion self-evident. The idea of CO2 destroying the planet dovetails nicely with our opinion about evil corporations want only destroying the environment. Even if know that we are wrong, most of us will follow the principle and spend trillions of dollars to stop CO2 production
today. In the case of cholera, the Londoners achieved a good solution through false understanding. What if it turns out that warming is overwhelmingly in response to the sun’s radiation and the investment in CO2 reduction turns out to have been pointless? What if it turns out that warming is indeed a problem but the cause lies elsewhere and the CO2 connection is an insignificant one? All these funds will have been diverted from curing AIDS, curing diseases, developing clean water or eliminating poverty. Finding a cause for the cholera was similar to the today’s problem of finding the cause and cure for the HIV aids It could be said that Snow and Whitehead’s research for the cause of the cholera leads to the beginning of a new era of public health and was one of the defining moments in what people today know as modern life. Their combined research eventually resulted in a chain of events which resulted in the building of a new sewer system for London. The difference this time was that the changes were made due to scientific research with data to prove the theory it was based on. First, he proved that the outbreak ultimately influenced the way cities organized themselves. Second, he proved that the events of the broad streets outcome changed how disease was studied and viewed. Third he proved that unban intelligence could come to understand a massive health crisis of which most people refused to see the truth. This conclude that everything is bad happening to you will be proved good for you in the future.
As the days went by and the number of deaths began to increase, the Board of Health in London began to improve people’s living conditions by creating the indoor restroom, This, however, caused more problems for the people of London, due to the lack of a proper sewage system, “London needed a citywide sewage system that could remove waste products from houses in a reliable and sanitary fashion,...,The problem was one of jurisdiction, not execution,”(Page 117). London didn’t have a place where the sewers could lead off to which keep the disease spreading when people used the restroom. After months of battling the type of disease London was faced with, Mr. Snow convinced the Board of Health to remove the water pump that was on Board Street. By getting rid of this pump, Mr. Snow helped stop major outbreaks from recurring, “The removal of the pump handle was a historical turning point, and not because it marked the end of London’s most explosive epidemic,..., It marks a turning point in the battle between urban man and Vibrio cholera, because for the first time a public institution had made an informed intervention into a cholera outbreak based on a scientifically sound theory of the disease.”(Page 162- 163). This marked the end of the London epidemic and how the world of science
The book, The Ghost Map, tells the story of the cholera outbreak that took place in England during the medieval era. During this time, London became popular, causing it to become one of the most populous urban cities in England. However, it suffered from overcrowding, a large lower class, and little health regulations. As a result, living conditions and water supply were not the cleanest, and many died from the disease cholera. Though this epidemic led to many deaths/illnesses during it’s time, it has proven to be helpful and important to public health today. Some public health advancements that have occurred as a result include healthier, cleaner, and longer lives lived.
Steven Johnson is an accomplished author who tells a compelling, well written and informative book, The Ghost Map, which tells an intriguing story of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London while at the same time provides a wide array of information surrounding the thoughts and beliefs of the majority of the current society.
There were “regulations against people washing clothes in or near waters used for drink, or against washing the entrails of beasts after slaughter”(Rowse 156). “…it is evident from innumerable documents how frequently they were broken” (Rowse 156). As long as people lived in small groups, isolated from each other, there were not many incidents of widespread disease. But as civilization progressed, people began clustering into cities. As the cities grew and became crowded, they also became the nesting places of water-borne, insect-borne, and skin-to-skin infectious diseases.
While poor drainage and waste disposal procedures can be seen as a direct result of fever and epidemic; it is important first to look at the dietary practices of the working classes which would greatly contribute to their squalid living conditions.
In crowded conditions, the rate of infection is even more rapid. The diseases brought over to America were mainly spread by the respiratory method. The pathogenesis of infection is through the ingestion of contaminated food and water. Throughout Europe during the 15th century, food and water were contaminated with fecal matter and by unsanitary habits ( i.e. the lack of bathing). The traumatic route of infection is through insect and animal bites.
“At present, the global system for carbon emissions trading is embodied in the Kyoto Treaty,” said Al Gore, which points out that Global Warming is not a national problem, but global problem. The Kyoto Treaty states that parties involved will reduce greenhouse emissions in their nation (United Nations). These facts introduce the idea of transforming this perilous world into an innocuous one. It supports his claim for having a preferable future for all, where there will be no droughts, devastations, deaths, or poverties due to global warming. His repetition of the word “reduce” engages the audience of having a solution to climate change. Mr. Gore continues with his ideas to reduce Global Warming by saying, “...Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CSS)...will play a significant...role as one of the major blocks of a solution to climate crisis.” This fact is an example of a paradox as before this statement he mentioned that CSS, a method to capture the CO2 burned from the burning coal, is an expensive method which most companies resist from using. His use of paradoxes throughout his speech makes the audience rethink their opinions. These statistics are part of many other logically statements that Mr. Gore used to support his claim. Some of these logical procedures include; electronic cars, reduction of renewable
The rail market continued to grow and by the 1860’s all major cities within the United States were connected by rail. The main diseases that showed the most virulence during the time were cholera, yellow fever and consumption, now known as tuberculosis. The 9th census mortality data showed that 1 out 7 deaths from disease were caused by tuberculosis and 1 out of 24 disease deaths were resulting from cholera. . Until the 1870s the general consensus of the spread of disease through population was still the primitive idea that it came from the individual and not specifically the pathogen.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The Ghost Map isn’t just a story about some aspect of public health; I would argue that it is a recounting one of the defining moments of public health. The book describes the history of one man, Dr. John Snow, as he defiantly set about to investigate the cause of London’s cholera outbreaks in the mid-nineteenth century. His contributions to medicine would ultimately lend to the field that would evolve into public health.
The filth of the cities promoted the spread of disease faster than doctors could discover a cure. This encouraged large outbreaks of many deadly diseases. And it is said that throughout this period there were people who went about the cities and towns with wagons calling "Bring out your dead!" in a fashion similar to that of the Medieval era during the bubonic plague (Which, by the way, was not yet a dead disease).
The epitome of poor management regarding the lack of attempt of turnabout in the nature of tenements by landlords were shown through model tenements; the care and up-keeping focused mainly in the facade of buildings rather than continual care within the walls of confinements. Mortality rates in the city rose to one-in-twenty-seven persons in 1855 due to the severe lacking living conditions and negligence of owners, landlords and agents.(p11, Riis) Any case of disease that arose within the walls of a tenement was a formula for disaster. Typically the disease-stricken tenants were a lost cause, and the source of plague throughout other blocks. The mortality rate didn't lie, but the landlords did not see that because of the ill-paced illnesses, which led to a citizen movement that resulted in the organization of the Board of Health. The Health Department began to educate the public more than help the public; however, in years to come they ordered tenements to be ventilated by way of air shafts and ordered the installation of windows, which slowly led to the declination, and soon thereafter extinction of the "dark room".
By the 1840’s high rates of disease were ascribed to the housing many of New York’s poverty-stricken immigrants lived in. Fear spread that while disease was rooted in the polluted living conditions of New York’s poorer communities, disease could easily spread to the more well off citizens too. Public health officials realized that the city’s soiled streets and polluted sewers were a health risk to all New Yorkers. In the mid-nineteenth century, New York possessed a primitive sewage system. Poorly planned sewers spanned the city, but most citizens’ homes did not connect to these pipes. Instead, most New Yorkers relied on outdoor outhouses and privies. Because of the high levels of unmanaged waste, epidemics of infectious diseases were commonplace in New York. The city battled outbreaks of smallpox, typhoid, malaria, yellow fever, cholera, and tuberculosis. In 1849, a rash of cholera struck the city, killing more than five thousand people. A wave of typhoid in the mid-1860’s resulted in a similar amount of deaths. Port cities and transportation hubs, like New York, were especially prone to outbursts of infectious diseases because of the high volume of travelers that passed through the city. Americans realized that they were contracting and dying from infectious diseases at an alarming rate, but weren’t entirely sure of why or how. (Web, par. 17,
During the 19th century, there were major changes in terms of living conditions and the mindset of people, to the lives of poor Europeans and Africans. The book The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson, gives a very important example of a tragedy going on in the 19th century. The position of the people in England and how they wanted to handle the situation during their most terrifying epidemic is an important reflection of how the people were during that time. Abina and the Important Men, by Trevor Getz and Liz Clarke gives the history of women without history through the real court case in West Africa. The start of innovation and technology plays a huge role in life during the 19th century.
One of the most compelling and difficult environmental problems society is facing today is climate change. People do not realize how much the environment has changed for the worse in the last ten years, until they are told that the last two decades of the 20th century have been the hottest in the last 400 years, according to climate studies (Conserve Energy Future). Today the carbon dioxide levels have reached 396.81 parts per million (ppm). “Carbon dioxide (CO2) has also increased over the last 100 years-- from about 300 ppm to 370 ppm. Interestingly, the majority of these additions have occurred in the last 50 years, when temperature increases have been slowest” (geocraft). There are no known solutions yet to reverse these effects in the environment, however there are many things people can do to prevent it from increasing. By implementing a carbon tax the government can tax corporations on how much carbon they emit into the atmosphere. With the extra money from the tax, scientist can invest in alternative ways to reduce how much carbon is emitted. Reducing climate change is going to take years and so nothing is going to get fixed anytime soon, but meanwhile we can use that extra money to begin cleaning up the atmosphere. There are many ways to explain climate change, some say its due to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, others say it is the burning of the fossils fuels, some even say it’s the greenhouse gases. All of these sayings mean the exact same thing, no matter how one says it. I believe there are more convenient ways to solve climate change; and if the government would to implement a carbon tax on companies they will then be forced to re-evaluate all the carbon they emit to the environment and red...
Many people dedicate their lives to spread the message about climate change being real. Even though some change in the climate is natural, many events that have happened cannot be explained away by nature. Climate change is causing damage to the world that is completely irreversible. Nasa says, “Most scientists say it 's very likely that most of the warming since the mid-1900s is due to the burning of coal, oil and gas. Burning these fuels is how we produce most of the energy that we use every day” (nasa). The energy that we use daily makes our life easier, but it hurts the earth. Why does the government still allow us to use these things? Science has shown us that sea levels are rising in many parts of the world. Warm weather is causing glaciers to melt which results in the sea level rising. Earth 's average temperature has been rising for the last century in a half; and there has also been a steady rise in ocean temperature since 1969. It is said that climate control is man made and it is dangerous. On the other side of the argument, many people do not believe that climate change is real. They argue that their has not been a big temperature change in almost two decades. They also bring up the point of there not being enough data in the climate history to draw the conclusion of what is happening in the climate now is abnormal. Scientist started to record climate change around the 1800’s which many people believe is not enough data to do a comparison. Another reason some believe that climate change is not real is because of some instances where a scientist predicts a date of a significant climate change never happens. Rinkesh writes, “ For example:- Al Gore predicted that all Arctic ice would be gone by 2013. But, on contrary Arctic ice is up by 50% since 2012” (conserve-energy-future). Many people find that these reasons are why climate change is not