Abstract
In almost every geographic location around the world, historic archives store a wealth of valuable epidemiological information. Mostly scrutinized by social scientists, historic information has an enormous potential for epidemiologic research, yet this information remains largely forgotten. This situation is starting to change. A renewed interest in historic data has flourished as recent reports, based on the information retrieved from historic records, have demonstrated that the information stored in historic archives is of an exceptional quality. Initially studied by a few intrepid epidemiologists, the field is growing vigorously. The application of quantitative methods and geographic information systems to historical data is producing a more detailed picture of the dynamics of human disease in space and time.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Acuna-Soto R, Stahle DW, Cleaveland MK et al (2002) Megadrought and megadeath in 16th century Mexico. Emerg Infect Dis 8(4):360–2.
Andreasen V, Viboud C, Simonsen L (2008) Epidemiologic characterization of the 1918 influenza pandemic summer wave in Copenhagen: Implications for pandemic control strategies. J Infect Dis 197:270–8.
Barry JM, Viboud C, Simonsen L (2008) Cross-protection between successive waves of the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic: Epidemiological evidence from US army camps and from Britain. J Infect Dis 198(10):1427–34.
Bootsma MC, Ferguson NM (2007) The effect of public health measures on the 1918 influenza pandemic in US cities. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104(18):7588–93.
Chowell G, Ammon CE, Hengartner NW et al. (2007) Estimating the reproduction number from the initial phase of the Spanish flu pandemic waves in Geneva, Switzerland. Math Biosci Eng 4(3):457–70.
Chowell G, Bettencourt LM, Johnson N et al. (2008) The 1918–1919 influenza pandemic in England and Wales: Spatial patterns in transmissibility and mortality impact. Proc Biol Sci 275(1634):501–9.
Cliff A (1995) Incorporating spatial components into models of epidemic spread in: Epidemic Models: Their Structure and Relation to Data, ed. Denis Mollison, Series: Publications of the Newton Institute (No. 5). Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
Cliff A, Haggett P (2004) Time, travel and infection. Brit Med Bull 69:87–99.
Cliff AD, Peter Haggett J, Ord K (1986) Spatial Aspects of Influenza Epidemics. London, Routledge.
Cliff AD, Haggett P, Smallman-Raynor M (1998) Deciphering Global Epidemics: Analytical Approaches to the Disease Records of World Cities, 1888–1912. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Cliff AD, Haggett P, Smallman-Raynor MR (2000) Island Epidemics, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Cliff AD, Haggett P, Smallman-Raynor M (2008) An exploratory method for estimating the changing speed of epidemic waves from historical data. Int J Epidemiol 37(1):106–12.
Covarrubias D, Van Emburgh M, Naqvi HR et al. (2008) To know or not to know: archiving and the under-appreciated historical value of data. Mol Cancer 7:18.
Eichner M (2003) Analysis of historical data suggests long-lasting protective effects of smallpox vaccination. Am J Epidemiol 158(8):717–23.
Eichner M, Dietz K (2003) Transmission potential of smallpox: Estimates based on detailed data from an outbreak. Am J Epidemiol 158(2):110–7
Gottfredsson M, Halldórsson BV, Jónsson S et al. (2008) Lessons from the past: familial aggregation analysis of fatal pandemic influenza (Spanish flu) in Iceland in 1918. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105(4):1303–8.
Haggett P (2000) The Geographical Structure of Epidemics. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Hatchett RJ, Mecher CE, Lipsitch M (2007) Public health interventions and epidemic intensity during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104(18):7582–7.
Hippocrates (1948) Airs, water and places. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Hirsch A. Handbuch der Historish-geographischen Patologie, 1860–1864. Translated into English by Charles Creighton and published as: Handbook of Geographical and Historical Pathology, The New Sydenham Society, 3 vols, London 1883–6.
Hope-Simpson RE (1952) Infectiousness of communicable diseases in the household. Lancet 2(6734):549–54.
Markel H, Lipman HB, Navarro JA et al. (2007) Nonpharmaceutical interventions implemented by US cities during the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic JAMA. 298(6):644–54. Erratum in: JAMA. 298(19):2264.
Matt J, Keeling MJ, Grenfell BT (2002) Understanding the persistence of measles: Reconciling theory, simulation and observation. Proc Biol Sci 269: 335–43.
Nishiura H (2006) Epidemiology of a primary pneumonic plague in Kantoshu, Manchuria, from 1910 to 1911: statistical analysis of individual records collected by the Japanese Empire. Int J Epidemiol 35(4):1059–65.
Nishiura H, Brockmann SO, Eichner M (2008) Extracting key information from historical data to quantify the transmission dynamics of smallpox. Theor Biol Med Model 5:20.
Stenseth NC, Samia NI, Viljugrein et al. (2006) Plague dynamics are driven by climate variation. PNAS 103:13110–5.
Trevelyan B, Smallman-Raynor M, Cliff AD (2005) The spatial dynamics of poliomyelitis in the United States: From epidemic emergence to vaccine-induced retreat, 1910–1971. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 95(2):269–93
Webster N (1800) A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases. Connecticut, Hudson and Goodwin Hartford.
White LF, Pagano M (2008) Transmissibility of the influenza virus in the 1918 pandemic. PLoS ONE 3(1):e1498.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Acuna-Soto, R. (2009). Death Records from Historical Archives: A Valuable Source of Epidemiological Information. In: Chowell, G., Hyman, J.M., Bettencourt, L.M.A., Castillo-Chavez, C. (eds) Mathematical and Statistical Estimation Approaches in Epidemiology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2313-1_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2313-1_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2312-4
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2313-1
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)