Infectious Diseases and Their Treatment in Georgian Written Sources
Infectious Diseases and Their Treatment in Georgian Written Sources

Summary/Abstract: The article reviews the manuscripts of medical content (fundamental works - Medical Book ("Thsigni Saakimoi"), "Yadigar Daud", "Incomparable Qarabadin" (“Ustsoro Karabadini”), collections, separate works, qarabadins), the chronological framework of which includes the 10th-19th centuries, they reflect information about infectious diseases and their treatment; also, medical references in the memoirs with a focus on the public perceptions, causes, and management of these diseases. The article presents the material in terms of belonging to the chronological, sectoral and cultural environment: the role of the authors or translators of the works in terms of knowledge about epidemiological diseases, the establishment of special terminology, the introduction of Eastern and European traditions. The Georgian manuscripts reflect the diagnosis of some infectious diseases - plague, cholera, leprosy, smallpox, typhoid - the influence of regional and social characteristics of the infected on the spread and course of diseases, traditional, folk, and contemporary scientific methods of treatment, including vaccination, isolation/lockdown, and escaping tactics, other anti-epidemic measures. These manuscripts contain references to Eastern, Muslim, and European, as well as Russian physicians and scientists (Galen, Jenner, and others); To some extent, it presents the details of society's approach to infectious diseases, in general, the general knowledge and picture of the development of medicine in a specific historical context.

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