Iașii în vremea holerei (1831)
Iași in the Time of Cholera (1831)

Summary/Abstract: The plague epidemic which affected the Romanian Principalities at the end of the third decade of the 19th century lead to the loss of a significant number of human lives and deeply troubled the Romanian society of that time. The administrative-sanitary measures, adopted by the authorities both within the epidemic context and soon after its end, didn’t manage to bring major changes for improving the living conditions of the citizens. Consequently, the cholera, which was predictable at the borders of Moldavia since the end of the year 1830 and spread on the left side of the Prut river the spring of the following year, 1831, was about to touch a vulnerable population, this vulnerability being caused by the lack of some hygiene concepts among the inhabitants, by the absence of some measures meant to prevent the diffusion of this kind of diseases, by the small number of physicians, especially in the counties, and mostly because not knowing the characteristics of the new epidemic. By using the unedited documentary resources, preserved in the Archives of Iași, I intend, throughout this analysis, to look on the way the epidemic affected the city of Iași and its surroundings, by emphasizing the causes of the disease and its spreading factors, and especially on the reactions of the inhabitants, of the medical staff, the measures practiced by the authorities, as well as on the consequences of the scourge.

• Details
• Contents