Health Care And Epidemics In Antiquity

Running head: HEALTH CARE AND EPIDEMICS IN ANTIQUITY 1

Health Care and Epidemics in Antiquity

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HEALTH CARE AND EPIDEMICS IN ANTIQUITY 2

Health Care and Epidemics in Antiquity

The early human societies were hunters and gathers with small and scattered populations.

Importantly, they were exposed to several viral and contagious bacterial diseases such as

smallpox that require a vast and dense population to spread. Moreover, the nomadic nature and

lifestyle of these societies minimized the possibility of coming in contact with contaminated

water and piles of garbage that could attract disease-carrying insects. Additionally, before the

early domestication of animals these communities were less likely to contact diseases carried by

birds, dogs, and cattle. However, this is not to say that these early societies lived free of diseases

(Drampalos, Stogiannos, Psyllakis, Sadiq and Michos, 2014). Indeed, they suffered from

diseases caused by eating animals or passed on by lice and worms. As humans began to live,

together in the permanent settlement they started to encounter a new range of diseases.

Importantly, people living in cities and domestication of animals brought about regular

contact with parasites and pathogens through fouled waters supplies and poor sanitation. The

larger the populations, the easier it became for infectious diseases spread that previously caused

minimal havoc to the communities. Moreover, archaeological evidence shows that as the

societies started to live in the permanent settlements, they heavily relied on domesticated animals

and agriculture as the primary source of food (Hofmann, 2013). Shephard (2015), argues that

relying heavily on domesticated animals and agricultural produce, the diets of these communities

became less varied leading to malnutrition. Further, the changed diet resulted in the high spread

of disease because of reduced immunities. As a result of such epidemic earliest civilizations

started developing health care systems and theories regarding the outbreak that they were going

through.

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Healthcare approaches in Mesopotamia and Egypt

Early Mesopotamian healers had some knowledge of anatomy. They could identify the

liver as a source of anger, the heart as the site of intelligence and the kidney as the source of

strength. Similarly, they identified that some body part could become inflamed, but there was no

explanation for disease process in the body (Drampalos, et al., 2014). Importantly,

Mesopotamian tradition was mainly directed towards reducing the external cause of illness

trough rituals, incantations, and sacrifices. Importantly, the demonic explanation of the reasons

for a sickness in some way was a curse for some offense the individual had committed.

Additionally, the belief in the magical and religious cause of a disease also necessitated the

assumption that the people who could only treat the diseases were magicians and priests (York,

2012). Importantly, the preservation of the health care system required individuals to seek and

maintain a state of purity.

In Egypt, there was a religious and magical explanation with a naturalistic explanation for

disease. The understanding of these sicknesses explained how diseases worked within the body

of an individual. The Egyptian physicians argued that the body was filled with a set of vessels

which included tendons and blood vessels. A large number of remedies in the ancient Egypt were

aiming at strengthening the body vessels that could become mute and die. Such an understanding

of the body indicates how the Egyptian physicians understood diseases and the body.

Healthcare and illness epidemic in western medical tradition

Early Greek medical writing shows that a doctor famed the teaching of medicine and

disease understanding from as early as fifth B.C.E. Further, the Greeks physicians had a good

explanation for illness and health care. Importantly, they developed theories that modified and

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clarified by Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Galen. According to York (2012), the ideas

provided a clear understanding of disease management in the western Europe up to the eighteen

century. Additionally, the Greek methods of illness and health care management were also

adopted in Arabic nations and provided the foundation of Islamic theory on medicine (Shephard,

2015). European and Arabic researchers and physicians continued to use the principles

embraced by the Greek medical researchers for the next 1000 years.

Consequently, Greek Hippocratic medical authors considered several building blocks in

the body and came up with competing answers. Some argued that the body had vital fluid they

referred chymoi. The important argument with the Hippocratic authors in the Greek period was

that health requires balance in the body while the disease caused imbalance (Shephard, 2015).

Importantly, treatment for any disease was aimed at restoring the balance in the body. Further,

the Greeks believed that several factors influenced proper body balance, and the physicians

argued that health could only be restored by balancing the factors.

Healthcare and disease management in China

The traditional Chinese medicine theories argue that the body interacts with the universe

through the combined approach. Importantly, the fundamental of Chinese medicine is based on

the theory of Yang and Yin. The theory states that the body functions in an end-and-flow

equilibrium to maintain health (Hofmann, 2013). The theories of wu xing and yin-yang have

similarities as they both were applied together when treating and diagnosing patients.

Importantly, the both approaches rely on a clear understanding on the need nourish different

parts of the body. Further, the Chinese medicine divides the human body into five organs the

heart, kidney, lungs, liver, and spleen.

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In conclusion, when people started living in permanent houses and cities they began to

get into regular contact with parasites and pathogens through fouled waters supplies and poor

sanitation. Several cultures such as the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Chinese, and the Greeks have

influenced significantly modern day medicine. The theories developed by these early physicians

laid down the foundation health care systems.

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References

Drampalos, E., Stogiannos, V., Psyllakis, P., Sadiq, M., & Michos, I. (2014). The influence of

theory on the formation of the infirmary during antiquity and the Middle Ages in the

West. Journal of medical ethics and history of medicine, 7.

Hofmann, B. (2013). Medicine as techne—A perspective from antiquity.Journal of Medicine and

Philosophy, 28(4), 403-425.

Shephard, R. J. (2015). The Middle-Ages: Monasteries, Medical Schools and the Dawn of State

Health Care. In An Illustrated History of Health and Fitness, from Pre-History to our

Post-Modern World (pp. 241-346). Springer International Publishing.

York, W. H. (2012). Health and wellness in antiquity through the Middle Ages. Santa Barbara,

California : Greenwood,

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