Today I have been reading on two different frequencies. In the morning, I read about how the concept of the plague was constructed, its biblical origins, and its reformulation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the afternoon, my readings have taken me to paleogenetics and paleoepidemiology.
I will start with these new disciplines. Paleoepidemiology analyzes ancient plagues with the criteria used in current epidemics to determine their mortality and spread. The main problem with this type of analysis is, of course, the historical sources. Before the 20th century, most sources recover non-systematic anecdotal material. Serial sources, such as death records, which are much more reliable, also do not offer precise information about the causes of death. However, they allow an analysis of the excess mortality compared to the immediately preceding years.
Paleogenetics analyzes the DNA remains of organisms that suffered from the plagues (human beings, rats, horses, and other animals) and the viruses and bacteria themselves, when lucky. Those who carry out this type of analysis present it as a significant scientific advance that would allow us to explain epidemics (such as the cholera epidemic of the 1830s) as the result of genetic reassortment of microbial strains. The problem with this type of analysis is anachronism. Epidemics have usually attributed the consequences they should have, even though the sources do not refer to them.
That is why the conceptual approach is pertinent. The word cholera, for example, was common in English-speaking countries long before Vibrio cholerae arrived. In the sources, I find references to people suffering from cholera, not the epidemic disease, but diarrhea and other stomach pains.
Tomorrow I will refer to the history of the term cholera. For now, I will only point out that medical concepts have also been changing and that we are not always aware of how what we now know influences our analysis of previous periods. In the case of epidemics, the period between the 19th and 20th centuries was crucial to conceive the plagues as enemies that had to be fought. Before that, no one used the war metaphor. The medical treatment did not imply massive measures. Finding the metaphors of the epidemics of the period under study allows us to understand the social impact of diseases, regardless of what should have happened.