Epidemics: The Story of South Africa’s Five Most Lethal

Epidemics: The Story of South Africa’s Five Most Lethal Human Diseases (Ohio Short Histories of Africa)

This is the first history of epidemics in South Africa, lethal episodes that significantly shaped this society over three centuries. Focusing on five devastating diseases between 1713 and todayâ€”smallpox, bubonic plague, â€œSpanish influenza,â€ polio, and HIV/AIDSâ€”the book probes their origins, their catastrophic courses, and their consequences in both the short and long terms. The impacts of these epidemics ranged from the demographicâ€”the â€œSpanish flu,â€ for instance, claimed the lives of 6 percent of the countryâ€™s population in six weeksâ€”to the political, the social, the economic, the spiritual, the psychological, and the cultural. Moreover, as each of these epidemics occurred at crucial moments in the countryâ€™s historyâ€”such as during the South African War and World War Iâ€”the book also examines how these processes affected and were affected by the five epidemics. To those who read this book, history will not look the same again.
Country USA
Brand Ohio University Press
Manufacturer Ohio University Press
Binding Paperback
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780821420287
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Epidemics: The Story of South Africa’s Five Most Lethal Human Diseases (Ohio Short Histories of Africa)