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The control of contagious disease in nineteenth-century British paediatric hospitals
1Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Center for the Health Services, University of California, Los Angeles, 90024, USA.
Insights
British children's hospitals evolved strategies to manage contagious diseases, influenced by French models. Public fever hospitals later eased the burden on voluntary pediatric institutions.
Area of Science:
- Medical History
- Pediatric Care
- Infectious Disease Management
Background:
- The establishment of specialized children's hospitals began in 19th-century France.
- British adoption of pediatric hospitals was delayed due to high mortality from contagious diseases in Paris.
Observation:
- British hospitals implemented diverse infection control measures.
- Smaller hospitals avoided fever cases, using isolation cots for emergent infections.
- Larger hospitals admitted some infectious children, striving for isolation.
Findings:
- The paper examines the management of cross-infection in British children's hospitals.
- Public fever hospitals emerged in the late 19th century, reducing the role of voluntary pediatric hospitals in managing notifiable diseases.
- British approaches to contagious illness in hospitals influenced reforms in France.
Implications:
- Understanding historical infection control provides context for current pediatric hospital practices.
- The evolution of specialized pediatric care highlights public health advancements.
- Cross-national learning in healthcare systems can drive significant improvements.
Abstract:
Special hospitals for children were first established in France at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The British delayed copying the French example for fifty years, in part because of the disquieting mortality caused by the spread of contagious diseases at the Enfants Malades in Paris. The privately managed British hospitals adopted varying tactics to minimize cross-infection on the wards. The smaller ones did not admit fever cases, while keeping one or two isolation cots handy for any infectious case arising on the wards. The larger hospitals cautiously admitted some children with infectious illness and attempted to provide complete isolation from the other in-patients. The management of the problems involved will be discussed in this paper. It will also be shown how the establishment of public fever hospitals, in the last quarter of the century, gradually relieved the voluntary paediatric hospitals of their responsibility for cases of notifiable disease. Finally, it will be argued that the British hospital system of coping with contagious illness served as a model for reform in France.