Is Racism a Disease?
Since the 1940s, mental health professionals have repeatedly debated the question of whether (some forms of) racism can be classified as a disease.
Pro-Epidemic Stigmatization
Prejudice and moralism interferes with public health, aiding and abetting the spread of the HIV and monkeypox viruses.
The Monkeypox 411
Although it’s less fatal and less transmissible than the related smallpox, there’s still serious cause for concern with the most recent outbreak.
The Hellfire Preacher Who Promoted Inoculation
Three hundred years ago, Cotton Mather starred in a debate about treating smallpox that tore Boston apart.
Blaming People for Getting Sick Has a Long History
Four major theories of disease transmission dominated scientific discourse in the nineteenth century. As one scholar writes, all were political.
The Origins of the CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began during World War II to prevent the spread of malaria to troops stationed in the South.
Cracking the Malaria Mystery—from Marshes to Mosquirix
It took science centuries to understand malaria. Now we’re waiting to see how the 2019 vaccine pilot works.
Disease Theory in Mary Shelley’s The Last Man
Shelley's third novel, about the sole survivor of a global plague, draws on the now-outdated miasma theory of disease.
With the Coronavirus, Science Confronts Geopolitics
The containment of COVID-19 raises pressing questions related to the freedom of scientific information, civil liberties, and human rights, one scholar explains.
When New Yorkers Burned Down a Quarantine Hospital
On September 1st, 1858, a mob stormed the New York Marine Hospital in Staten Island, and set fire to the building.