The Southern Medical Journal (SMJ) is the official, peer-reviewed journal of the Southern Medical Association. It has a multidisciplinary and inter-professional focus that covers a broad range of topics relevant to physicians and other healthcare specialists.

SMJ // Article

Editorial

The Starry Heaven and the Crowded Shelters: Public Health Risks

Authors: Gabriel-Adrian Popescu, MD, PhD, Ioana Chirca, MD

Abstract

Starting in 1890, after the most important scientific revolution in microbiology, when Koch first presented his postulates, medicine was never the same. And, not only medicine itself and the medical approach to illness but society and social interventions as well. Administrative measures, such as isolation of presumably transmissible diseases were implemented soon after the idea of contagious diseases came in the spotlight. Isolating homeless people with a transmissible disease is a difficult task. Moreover, living in places with high human density, such as shelters, actually contributes to the spread of communicable infectious diseases. Fortunately, scientific advancements led to the development of vaccines, limiting the role of isolation measures. Primary prevention, by vaccinating susceptible populations, significantly reduced the number and extent of the outbreaks and also reduced the overall morbidity due to the interaction between infectious diseases and a number of chronic diseases.

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