Contagious Ideas: Understanding Wald's Outbreak Narrative

The purpose of Priscilla Wald’s book, Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative, is to explore the spread of disease and the effects it has. Wald does not focus on the loss of life or the medical side of disease, instead she chooses to focus on the spread of the idea of a particular disease, which she calls the outbreak narrative. She then looks at how each path leads to the containment of each disease. By doing so, she creates criteria which can be used to evaluate the spread of any idea; including the temperance movement. After exploring the facets of the temperance movement and comparing them to the mold Wald creates, we find that the movement fits into the outbreak narrative. Since the temperance movement took the form of an outbreak narrative, panic and a lack of knowledge plagued the United States and many parts of the world in the 19th century.
In order to examine whether or not the temperance movement fits Wald’s outbreak narrative, we must first define the criteria of the outbreak narrative. Wald sets a clear criterion on page two of her book. She states, “the outbreak narrative follows a formulaic plot that begins with

the identification of an emerging infection, includes discussion of the global networks throughout which it travels, and chronicles the epidemiological work that ends with containment.” These three categories will be the necessary basis on which the temperance movement is evaluated.
The first step in using Wald’s formula is looking at the introduction of the temperance movement. The origin of the temperance movement is believed to have begun in Ireland with a group called the Ulster Temperance Society. The group, founded in 1829, is responsible for the spread of temperance throughout Ireland and later in America. Along with influence from many temperance groups that branched off of the UTS, Benjamin Rush’s book, An Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits Upon the Human Body and Mind, caused a widespread scare about the consumption of alcohol. Rush vividly portrayed the many adverse effects of alcohol, including madness, epilepsy, and apoplexy. In comparison, Rush becomes similar to a doctor who first announces the arrival of a new disease into the country. Rush’s claims open the eyes of the nation on the drinking epidemic at hand. One illustration from the 1850’s called The Drunkards Progress, shows a man consuming alcohol and with each drink he goes up a step. This one-way attitude was the theme of the pre-temperance era, but the man in the illustration soon reaches a plateau and quickly goes on a downward spiral. This is an excellent visual of why the temperance movement came about at the time it did. Society was experiencing the downward fall and there became a need for someone to stop more and more people from experiencing that fall. The variety of mindsets towards alcohol became the driving force for temperance groups in America, which later caused the spread of temperance around the world.
The next step in Wald’s outbreak narrative is discussing how the temperance movement spread. Following the creation of the Ulster Temperance Society, the group expanded throughout Ireland and into Scotland and Britain. European influence along with Rush’s book became the backbone of temperance in America. A group called the Order of Good Templars became one of the earliest United States based temperance groups, founded in 1851 in Utica, New York. The Order of Good Templars is accredited with being the first international temperance organization and accelerating the spread of temperance ideals. This transfer of ideals is comparable to Wald’s example of a transfer of disease. She uses the example of how one person with typhoid fever can transfer it to three people and the disease keeps spreading exponentially. The spread of the temperance ideals can be looked at in the same way, as in both examples one person’s idea can be exponentially spread and soon cover an extremely wide array of society.
Wald says that investigating containment or the final product is the last step in the outbreak narrative. Since the purpose of the temperance movement was to stop the consumption of alcohol, it makes sense that prohibition is the final product of the temperance movement. The Volstead Act being ratified in 1919 allowed enforcement of the 18th Amendment, which banned the “the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors.” By succeeding in limiting all means of manufacturing, consuming and transporting alcohol, the temperance movement essentially reached their goal in limiting alcohol nationwide. Again, the temperance movement can be compared to a disease used in Wald’s book such as typhoid fever in which there is now a cure, ending the outbreak narrative. In turn, this step completes the final criterion of Priscilla Wald’s outbreak narrative.
The negative consequence of the temperance movement taking the outbreak narrative form is the sudden rush of information to a wide group of people and the misconceptions brought on by it.

After the influx of anti-alcohol propaganda flooded America, society instantly painted alcohol as the worst thing to strike America. Society at the time became incredibly vulnerable to false information mixed in with credible information. Since the temperance movement took the form of an epidemic striking America, a form of panic ensued amongst society. People were naturally attracted to the new idea of temperance which opened the door for manipulation of the truth behind alcohol consumption. In return, this provided an opportunity for temperance to spread not only throughout America, but the rest of the world as

well.
Since the temperance movement in the 19th century follows along with the outline created by Wald, it is safe to say that the movement fits with the mold later used by HIV, typhoid fever, and SARS. Wald set up a three part criteria to classify an outbreak narrative consisting of an introduction, a clear path of diffusion, and a final conclusion to the issue at hand.