Beyond Mortality: Survivors of Epidemic Infections and the Bioarchaeology of Impairment and Disability

• Published in: Bioarchaeology international 2022-01, Vol.6 (1-2), p.23
• Main Authors: Battles, Heather, Gilmour, Rebecca
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Epidemics; Infections; Infectious diseases; Pandemics; Poliomyelitis
• ISSN: 2472-8349; 2472-8357
• DOI: 10.5744/bi.2021.0003

Epidemics and pandemics are typically discussed in terms of morbidity and mortality, susceptibility and immunity, and social responses to and impacts of the immediate epidemic event. Much less attention is paid to the longer-term consequences for individuals and populations in terms of the sequelae of infections, such as blindness after smallpox, deafness due to congenital rubella, and paralysis after polio. This same tendency is observed in the COVID-19 pandemic, with counts of cases and deaths, questions of immunity, and economic impacts at the foreground and long-term or chronic health impairment of COVID-19 survivors receiving less attention. Much of the existing research on the effects of such disease sequelae has come from disability history; in addition, the bioarchaeology of impairment/disability is an emerging area of research that can contribute insight into experiences of disease consequences. In this article, we give an overview of published work on survivors of infectious disease using both bioarchaeology and disability history. Using the example of post-polio paralysis, we propose a theoretical approach to the bioarchaeological study of infectious disease that is inclusive of the history of impairment and disability, which we refer to as a survivor lens. We structure this discussion through scaffolded questions that move through multiple levels of analysis: from the individual and relational to the drivers of cultural change. We argue that bioarchaeological research on past epidemics and pandemics that attends to morbidity and lasting impairment and disability can contribute to wider conversations about infectious disease and disability in the past and present.   En général, les épidémies et les pandémies sont considérées en termes de morbidité et de mortalité, de susceptibilité et d’immunité, et de réponses sociales et d’impacts immédiats de l’événement épidémique. Moins d’attention est accordée aux conséquences à long terme pour les individus et les populations en termes de séquelles d’infections, telles que la cécité après la variole, la surdité due à la rubéole congénitale et la paralysie après la polio. Cette même tendance est observée lors de la pandémie de COVID-19. Il y a moins d’attention accordée au nombre de cas et de décès, aux questions d’immunité et d’impacts économiques au premier plan, et aux problèmes de santé à long terme ou chroniques des survivants de COVID-19 reçoivent. Une grande partie de la recherche existante sur les