Robert Koch and the invention of the carrier state: tropical medicine, veterinary infections and epidemiology around 1900

This paper reassesses Robert Koch’s work on tropical infections of humans and cattle as being inspired by an underlying interest in epidemiology. Such an interest was developed from the early 1890s when it became clear that an exclusive focus on pathogens was insufficient as an approach to explain t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in history and philosophy of science. Part C, Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences, 2010-09, Vol.41 (3), p.232-240
Main Author: Gradmann, Christoph
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Carrier State
Communicable Diseases - epidemiology
Communicable Diseases - history
Communicable Diseases - veterinary
East Coast fever
Epidemics - history
Epidemiology
Epidemiology - history
Europe
Germany
History, 19th Century
History, 20th Century
Humans
Koch
Malaria
Mass Screening
Robert Koch
Sleeping sickness
Tropical medicine
Tropical Medicine - history
Typhoid Fever - epidemiology
Typhoid Fever - history
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Summary:This paper reassesses Robert Koch’s work on tropical infections of humans and cattle as being inspired by an underlying interest in epidemiology. Such an interest was developed from the early 1890s when it became clear that an exclusive focus on pathogens was insufficient as an approach to explain the genesis and dynamics of epidemics. Koch, who had failed to do so before, now highlighted differences between infection and disease and described the role of various sub-clinical states of disease in the propagation and—consequently—in the control of epidemics. Studying pathologies of men and cattle in tropical countries eventually facilitated the application of such measures in Europe through the screening of healthy carriers of typhoid, which was carried out in 1902. The concept of the carrier state can be understood as a spin-off from tropical medicine into the study and control of infectious disease in Europe. With it travelled assumptions that were typical for colonial and veterinary medicine where the health of indigenous individuals or cattle would be a secondary objective compared to the control of diseases in populations.
ISSN:1369-8486
1879-2499
DOI:10.1016/j.shpsc.2010.04.012