Infectious disease control in the Ionian Islands during the British Protection (1815–1864)

Abstract

This review presents the medical and social role of British military doctors in the formation of the British sanitary campaign in the Ionian Islands during the period 1815-1864. They were the core of a health system based on the old sanitary model of the Venetian Republic, which was the former ruler of the region. The British innovation and reorganisation of the old lazarettos (a quarantine system for maritime travellers), the new marine sanitary procedures, the determination of quarantine duration for major infectious diseases along with the introduction of the vaccination system resulted in a satisfactory defence against epidemics in Greece during the 19th century. The British military physicians applied and established West European medical ideas, as well as the principles of preventive medicine, for the first time in the Greek territory and this is a historical example of a successful sanitary campaign based on the experience of military physicians and their collaboration with civilian physicians.

Biological Warfare Plan in the 17th Century—the Siege of Candia, 1648–1669

“…Since the 14th century, quarantine has been the major disease-control strategy, including isolation, sanitary cordons, bills of health issued to ships, fumigation, disinfection, and regulation of groups of persons who were believed to be responsible for spreading the infection ( 25 ). Also, if the duration of the quarantine is compared with the incubation periods of infectious diseases (e.g., cholera, plague, yellow fever, smallpox), the isolation period overlapped their incubation period ( 26 , 27 ). During epidemics, the urban health authorities adopted social interventions and traditional health tools, such as quarantine of travelers who had contact with infected persons or who came from a place where the disease was endemic or epidemic ( 28 ).…”