A historical perspective of infectious diseases with reference to Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever

Abstract

In studying the evolution of the concept of disease, Kraupl Taylor argues that the term disease emphasizes more the pathological side of the disease itself, while the term illness corresponds to clinical signs [13]. From the perspective of the history of medicine, the term disease should be used in its widest meaning, because if the label of disease is used in the sense of its definitions made by contemporary medical scientists, many disease definitions in the medical history will have to remain unmentioned. However, despite their great differences from their definitions today, the smallpox disease defined by Galen in the 3rd century is a disease as is the smallpox defined by Rhazes (Fig. 2-1) in the 10th century. Similarly, in the 1700s, the smallpox disease defined by Jenner is also a disease. Remarkably, way back in history, the signs of a disease, considered only a symptom today, were regarded as a disease on their own. Hence, symptoms such as abdominal pain, hemorrhage, diarrhea, vomiting, and fever were cited as diseases in the Hippocratic era, Galen, and/or Razi and Avicenna, the distinguished representatives of the Eastern world [8]. This approach has cultural and in fact, mythological bases, which can be embodied by the example of Febris, the goddess of fever and malaria. She represents fever and febrile diseases. In antiquity, unlike in our times, not much was known about the mechanism of fever in disease and therefore was considered a disease on its own. In periods of medicine with mystical explanations, supernatural forces were blamed. Consequently, it is not surprising that the goddess Febris was held responsible for fever.