Transcript Pan(dem)ic Now! - Penelope Ironstone

PAN(DEM)IC NOW!
The Making of a Germ Panic,
Then and Now
 Tomes argues that
there were two distinct
periods of germ panic
in the 20th Century
1900-1940
 Before antibiotics but
after bacteriological
awareness and the
abandonment of the
miasma theory of
disease
 A “print revolution”
that increases
awareness
 Public health campaigns




aimed at hygienic practices
Diseases like flu,
tuberculosis as targets of
these campaigns
Spanish Flu Pandemic
1918-19
More people died of flu
than died in fighting in
WWI
Estimated over 100 million
people died
 Advertising practices
aimed at increasingly
germ-aware public
 Products like Lysol
 Practices and
procedures of hygiene
in the home
 Problematization of
domestic space
Antibiotics
 Developed during and
after WWI by Sir
Alexander Fleming
 Connected to the
treatment of infections
in military hospitals
 Many died from
infections, not from
wounds
 Antibiotics not widely
available until 1942
The Magic Bullet
 Idea that all infections
would be swiftly dealt
with by antibiotics
 Overuse – for ailments
where not needed, in
animals
 Misuse – prescribed for
viral infections which
are not affected by
antibiotics
1985 - Now
 Emergence of
HIV/AIDS in early
1980s
 Arrogance connected
to magic bullet and
idea that diseases like
small pox or polio
could be wiped out
Hygienic Practices
 Food handling
practices
 BSE or mad-cow
disease
 Tensions between
public health and
private hygiene
Emerging Infectious Diseases
 HIV/AIDS
 Ebola
 Hanta
 More recently, H5N1,
H1N1, and SARS
 http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=rGZ3K7Q0j
9U
Cultural Imaginings of
Pandemics
 Films like Contagion (2011),




12 Monkeys (1995) and
Outbreak (1995)
Made-for-TV movies like
Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in
America
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=j1naQSJWwbk
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=UwNMGdWyjcc
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=BswcvmjbreE
Superbugs!
 MRSA (methicilin-
resistant stapholococus
aureus)
 c difficile
 Multi-drug resistance
means illnesses that
were once treatable are
becoming harder to treat
 Eg. Tuberculosis,
salmonella, pneumonia
New Products for a New Germ Panic
 Lysol
 http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=qJh1Q4Yg
SHE
 http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=hxDkq3rjX
Po&feature=related