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International Health
Historical Background
Health and disease follow no political boundary. From time immemorial knowledge about health and diseases has been flowing across civilizations through various means. It is interesting to see how Ayurvedic principles influenced Greek and Arab physicians. Greek knowledge was brought to india by Arabian travelers in the form of Unani medicine. For years several pandemics such as Cholera and Plague kept spreading through trade routes around the world.
Quarantine
By 14th, century, European nations started to understand the role of travelers in spread of diseases. It was widely believed that the ships coming from affected areas bring pestilence along with them. A natural solution to this came in the form of putting barriers on international travelers. Perhaps the first formal effort for prevention of spread of diseases across nations came in the form of quarantine.
The dictionary meaning of quarantine is “Isolation imposed on person or animal those has arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to , and might spread , infectious or contagious disease”. The word quarantine was derived from Latin word “Quaresma”, which means” forty”. Ships arriving from plague affected cities had to wait for forty days out on the tide before entering the harbor. In the forty days detention period , the dormant disease would either manifest itself or die out. The practice of quarantine was soon adopted by several European countries.
However, the laws related to quarantine varied from country to country. It led to serious problems and inconvenience to traders and travelers. That prompted several governments to bring uniformity in quarantine laws and laid the foundation for a formal international action for health.
(To be continued)
Historical Background
Health and disease follow no political boundary. From time immemorial knowledge about health and diseases has been flowing across civilizations through various means. It is interesting to see how Ayurvedic principles influenced Greek and Arab physicians. Greek knowledge was brought to india by Arabian travelers in the form of Unani medicine. For years several pandemics such as Cholera and Plague kept spreading through trade routes around the world.
Quarantine
By 14th, century, European nations started to understand the role of travelers in spread of diseases. It was widely believed that the ships coming from affected areas bring pestilence along with them. A natural solution to this came in the form of putting barriers on international travelers. Perhaps the first formal effort for prevention of spread of diseases across nations came in the form of quarantine.
The dictionary meaning of quarantine is “Isolation imposed on person or animal those has arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to , and might spread , infectious or contagious disease”. The word quarantine was derived from Latin word “Quaresma”, which means” forty”. Ships arriving from plague affected cities had to wait for forty days out on the tide before entering the harbor. In the forty days detention period , the dormant disease would either manifest itself or die out. The practice of quarantine was soon adopted by several European countries.
However, the laws related to quarantine varied from country to country. It led to serious problems and inconvenience to traders and travelers. That prompted several governments to bring uniformity in quarantine laws and laid the foundation for a formal international action for health.
(To be continued)
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