Specialized Hospitals: Quarantine Practices

In 1347 Europe was hit by one of the worst epidemics that the world has ever seen. In a period of approximately 5 years nearly 25 million people were killed by a nearly unstoppable disease. In an effort to save themselves and their cities, the authorities of northern Italy’s city-states utilized cutting edge programs to work against further transmittance of this catastrophic infection. The implementation of various quarantine practices led to the requirement for regulation of these policies and necessitated the formation of the first specialized hospitals and the creation of public health offices. Many of the modern medicinal policies for dealing with highly contagious diseases can be traced back to these primary practices and have changed …show more content…
Hospitals were built to allow easy application of the new policies. A prime example of plague specific hospitals can be found in the Lazarettes. Created in Venice to house those infected with the plague, the stone fortresses “...were two of the most powerful weapons in the fight against the plague between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries and were central to Venice’s public health strategy.” and the first permanent specialized wards. The Lazaretto vecchio, or old Lazaretto, was founded in 1423 and the Lazaretto nuovo, or new Lazaretto followed shortly in 1471. They were located on two separate small islands just off of Venice’s coast. Their main purpose was to be a checkpoint for merchants and travelers, and thus prevent possibly infected people from stepping foot in the city until they were cleared, though both eventually developed specific roles within this ultimate goal. The new Lazaretto was mainly used as a place to isolate those only suspected of carrying the infection, primarily those that had had recent contact with someone who had died from the plague, as an alternative to at- home quarantine. Towards the outbreak of 1555 the new hospital had expanded into also being used for those taking the steps to return to society after a stay at the old Lazaretto. During this entire time period, the old Lazzaretto remained a place to care for the actively ill and to …show more content…
The introduction of laws specifically concerning health is now known as public health law and is used in a variety of ways today to protect and assist individuals and was shaped by these first committees. Without the efforts of the original organization the regulatory aspects of medicine yet another area that would be much different than it is today. Although many people took the position of being on the health board extremely reluctantly, the board members soon began to enact many widespread policies to halt the spread of the pandemic. These measures included the introduction of health passes (certificates that gave people permission to travel and were way to ensure that infected people didn’t enter into their cities), Bills of Mortality ((comprehensive forms that gave information on the deceased such as date of death, the name, age, and address of the deceased, the cause of death, and the duration of the terminal illness, which served as a way to track the spread of plague and to ensure that those with deceased family members or who came into contact with the infected person could be watched for signs of the plague), along with community policies to regulate the size of crowds such as prohibiting festive gatherings, closing schools, and prohibiting processions and other