Abstract
The term “epidemiology” is a source of confusion about the nature of this discipline. For the public, “epidemiology” evokes a medical discipline that deals with large-scale outbreaks of infectious diseases. This was indeed its meaning in the first treatises which included “epidemiology” in their titles. In the 16th century the Spanish physician Angelerio published a study on plague entitled “Epidemiología” and in 1802 another Spanish physician, Villalba, wrote a compilation of epidemics and outbreaks over 13 centuries entitled “Epidemiología Española” (meaning Spanish epidemiology) (Pan American Health Organization, 1988, p. 3–4).
To the Epistemology Group of the Wade Hampton Frost Reading Room, Baltimore, 1986–1088
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© 2004 Springer Basel AG
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Morabia, A. (2004). Epidemiology: An epistemological perspective. In: Morabia, A. (eds) A History of Epidemiologic Methods and Concepts. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7603-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7603-2_1
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