The Austrian success of controlling plague in the 18th century: . : Maritime quarantine methods applied to continental circumstances

Balázs, Péter and Foley, K L (2010) The Austrian success of controlling plague in the 18th century: . : Maritime quarantine methods applied to continental circumstances. KALEIDOSCOPE: MŰVELŐDÉS- TUDOMÁNY- ÉS ORVOSTÖRTÉNETI FOLYÓIRAT, 1. pp. 73-89. ISSN 2062-2597

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Abstract

After the last Western European outbreak (Marseilles 1720-1722), plague epidemics repeated swept through central and eastern Europe during the 18th century.At the beginning of the 1700s, the Habsburg Monarchy conquered the plague-stricken central European parts of the Ottoman Empire down to the northern Balkans. Endeavoring consolidation, health advisers of the Sanitary Court Commission in Vienna transformed maritime quarantine measures systematically to continental circumstances beginning in the late 1730s. A series of seaport-type quarantine stations were erected along the border crossings of the main oriental trade routes combined with traditional cordon sanitaires by the 1750s. Military policing forces were responsible for isolating and purifying all suspected transmitters of diseases (persons, vehicles, goods and animals).The numerous royal decrees were summarized in a Code named General Norm of Health Service 1770. A crucial test of the new system was the Russo-Turkish war 1768-1772. Until that time, the Habsburg monarchy had no epidemiological infrastructure on its northeastern border, yet it was established in several months as a highly successful anti-plague measure. The present study explains the success of the quarantine system implemented by the Habsburg Monarchy within the context of the 1770 General Norm of Health Service legislation.

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