{"id":20005,"date":"2020-12-17T11:00:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=20005"},"modified":"2024-12-06T15:09:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T20:09:51","slug":"nlm-collections-tour-epidemics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2020\/12\/17\/nlm-collections-tour-epidemics\/","title":{"rendered":"NLM Collection Tour: Epidemics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to a virtual tour of the historical materials in the National Library of Medicine (NLM) collection. Today we are featuring materials about epidemics: some mild, others deadly, some global, others local.<\/p>\n

These materials document contemporary research\u2014often including data collection and analyses\u2014which today can increase our understanding of infectious disease at population, individual, and genetic levels. They also preserve the stories of people whose lives were shaped by epidemics.<\/p>\n

NLM staff have selected these highlights from the collection for you to explore. We welcome questions! Use the comment feature below to share your thoughts.<\/p>\n

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Global Health Events Web Archive<\/a><\/h2>\n
\"Colorized<\/a>
Colorized transmission electron micrograph image of an Ebola virus virion.
Photo Credit: Frederick Murphy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When future researchers look back at outbreaks in the modern era, what resources will they want to explore? Of the news and information that is created and shared digitally over the web, what will remain to be examined one, ten, or even fifty years from now? This content is in a constant state of change and at high risk for loss.<\/p>\n

The NLM web archive collection on Global Health Events<\/a>, is a selective collection of websites archived by the National Library of Medicine beginning in 2014 related to global health events, including the 2014 and 2016 Ebola<\/a> outbreaks, Zika<\/a> virus disease in 2015-2016, and the current Coronavirus<\/a> disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Included in the archive are websites and social media of government and non-government organizations, journalists, healthcare workers, and scientists in the United States and around the world, with an aim to collect and preserve a diversity of perspectives. Archived websites are primarily in English. NLM continues to develop, review, describe, and add content to the collection guided by the NLM Collection Development Guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)<\/a> | Ebola Outbreak 2014<\/a> | Zika Virus<\/a> | More . . .<\/a><\/p>\n

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Selections from NLM Digital Collections<\/a><\/h1>\n

NLM Digital Collections<\/a> provides free online access to digitized materials selected from the rich historical collections. Materials in many formats related to epidemics have been digitized and made available here. For example, you can read the ground-breaking Natural and political observations mentioned in a following index, and made upon the Bills of mortality<\/em><\/a>, 1676, by John Graunt.\u00a0 Graunt proposed the basic methods of population-data science<\/a> using counts of both baptisms and mortalities\u2014not just for plague, but also for more ordinary causes.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/a>
Natural and Political Observations Mentioned in a Following Index, and Made Upon the Bills of Mortality…by John Graunt, 1686 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
Natural and Political Observations Mentioned in a Following Index, and Made Upon the Bills of Mortality…by John Graunt, 1662 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Images<\/h2>\n

Images from the History of Medicine<\/a> (IHM), available in NLM Digital Collections<\/a>, is a digitized set of images selected from the historical collections.\u00a0 Here are a few images that illustrate the experience of epidemics of scarlet fever, cholera and polio.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/a>
Quarantine Scarlet Fever <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"An <\/a>
Epidemics: Cholera at Marseilles <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
Providing Oral Polio Vaccine to Children in Africa <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Quarantine Scarlet Fever<\/a>\u00a0| Epidemics: Cholera at Marseilles<\/a> | Providing Oral Polio Vaccine<\/a><\/p>\n

Explore more Infectious Disease<\/a> images in the NLM image collections on Flickr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Books and Journals<\/h2>\n

Cholera Online: 1817\u20131900<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"The<\/a>This group of materials consists of 518 English language monographs, selected for digitization from the NLM historical collections, dating from 1817 to 1900 dealing with the cholera pandemics of that period including:<\/p>\n

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  • Cholera!!! Caution to the Public<\/em><\/a>, by the New York (N.Y.) Board of Commissioners of Health, New York, 1865<\/li>\n
  • Do Small-Pox and Cow-Pox Afford Any Protection from Asiatic Cholera? With Some Observations<\/em><\/a>, by Ambrose Blacklock, Dumfries, 1866<\/li>\n
  • How to Make a City Cholera Proof<\/em><\/a>, Poultney Bigelow, New York, 1893<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Historical Films<\/h2>\n

    The Eternal Fight<\/a> introduces the work of the newly formed World Health Organization in 1948 and emphasizes the international nature of epidemic disease, which is easily spread through air and sea travel.<\/p>\n