Przygotowanie lekarzy Królestwa Polskiego do walki z epidemiami chorób zakaźnych w XIX w. Zarys problematyki badawczej
Preparation of doctors to fight epidemics of infectious diseases in the Kingdom of Poland in the 19th century. Outline of research issues

Summary/Abstract: For centuries, the Polish lands, like other European countries, would regularly fall victim to an epidemic or a pandemic. Plague, also known as the Black Death or Bubonic sickness, smallpox, various “rotten fevers” belong to the most dangerous of a long list of infectious diseases afflicting the inhabitants of our country until the end of the modern era. In the nineteenth century, cholera became a model epidemic disease in the Polish territories under partitions, but other diseases such as tuberculosis, syphilis, typhoid and dysentery were also raging. The spread of some developed into a pandemic involving large areas of the Polish territory, while others caused epidemics of a specific range and time. Until the invention and popularization of preventive vaccinations, and later the invention of chemotherapeutic agents and antibiotics, mankind had been regularly plagued by successive epidemics of infectious diseases. In this text, based on sources of various provenance, an attempt has been made to find an answer to the question of how doctors practicing in the 19th century in the Kingdom of Poland were prepared to combat these epidemics. To start with, the main infectious diseases and the chronology of epidemics outbreaks in the territory of the Kingdom of Poland will be discussed. In the nineteenth century, and especially in its second half, the health condition of the population, as well as the related to it matters of medical care, began to be among the most important issues of social life in most modern countries of Europe at that time. Therefore, we should look into the legal regulations concerning the measures to fight infectious diseases (issued, among others, by national and local authorities, social and medical care institutions), on which medics could rely. In addition, it is worth paying attention to the professional preparation of doctors to fight epidemics by analyzing the existing curricula of medical studies, their internships and the experience gained. Also the scope of scientific research on infectious diseases and availability of their results for the medical community should be surveyed, as well as the methods of prevention and the dominant models used to combat epidemics, including the activities of the then emerging infectious hospitals. Finally, the issue of successes and failures in the fight against these diseases in the territory of the Kingdom of Poland will be discussed.

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