Health during the Industrial Revolution
Industrialization in the XIX century was an important breakthrough for Great Britain. Initially the change from manual production to machinery caused a lot of suffering, but eventually it led to a better quality of life for most of the people. Thanks to the rapid pace at which industrialization was happening, they were in very poor sanitatry conditions. People lacked the adequate housing, education and protection.
Many diseases struck and spread during industrialization, the most famous was the cholera. Thanks to the increasing amount of trash that was thrown to the streets, the lacking of drains, and the fact that people lived very close together allowed for diseases to spread rapidly. Cholera was caused by contaminated water, it was the result of sewage coming in contact with drinking water. Cholera leads to dehydration due to the rapid increase of vomiting and diarrhea.
One of the most feared sickness in those times, was tuberculosis. This disease attacks the lungs, it is spread when a person breathes the air another person, who is already infected, is exhaling, which means it was spread airborne. This disease was spread very easily in crowded areas, causing pneumonia and interrupting the body’s immune system. It is said, that tuberculosis killed approximately 1/3 of the total deaths in Great Britain suffered from 1800 to 1850. Tuberculosis attacked mainly people who were poorly fed or under nourished and also those who lived in very poor conditions.
Another disease that struck heavily during the era of Industrialization was the reapearance of Smallpox. Smallpox, caused by the variola virus, gains entrance to the body through the mucous membrane. By this time in Great Britain, there was a vaccine for Smallpox, but many of the people where rather ignorant about the fact that they needed to get vaccinated to prevent the disease. The overpopulation in the cities became a breeding ground for Smallpox.