Typhoid In The 19th Century

In the 19th century, it was a common occurrence to die at an early age. Disease and sickness were easy to come by and if not everyone, almost everyone came across it and was infected with a disease. During and before the 1800s, most babies didn’t even survive infancy. It is proven that only one-third of the children lived past the age of nine. This also meant that those who did survive past the age of nine were still capable of catching fatal diseases. Fatal diseases were everywhere and were easy to catch due to the poor conditions that people were living in. Citizens could catch sickness’ like smallpox or Tuberculosis which were very deadly or they could catch diseases from malnutrition and lack of cleanliness.(“Trends in Death”, 2013)
Typhoid is an infectious bacterial fever with an eruption of red spots on the chest and abdomen and even severe intestinal irritation. During the 19th century a very wealthy and intelligent man named William Budd caught a case of typhoid twice in his life. Although Budd went through terrible pains and suffered a lot he was able to write a monograph about typhoid that would later become famous. In this monograph, Budd integrated and added on to others ideas and he revealed evidence that proved that the deadly disease was, in fact contagious. It was hard for William Budd to prove his findings and his discoveries to the world because he was proving against many other researchers and scientist who had high power and had high ranks in the medical field. This was an incredibly remarkable finding because no one had said this was true before and Budd had to prove it and use evidence. By knowing that the disease is contagious, doctors will know that they must isolate patients who have the disease and have to take extra precautions when they encounter someone who has the disease. By taking these extra precautions, a lot of fewer people will catch the disease. That is all due to William Budds findings. ( Budd, William,