The Historical Understanding of Sanitation and Disease Control in New Jersey

Abstract

Beginning in 1877 The New Jersey (United States) Department of Health began publishing annual reports on the health status of its residents. These reports were largely narrative and contained health statistics, descriptive epidemiology, investigation reports, and descriptions of interventions and controls implemented in New Jersey. Not surprisingly, diseases associated with sanitation, water supplies, and crowding are a central focus of the early reports. Further, predominant theories of disease distribution at the time implicated sanitation as a cause in many illnesses. This presentation will present a critical review of the annual reports of the New Jersey Department of Health from 1877 to 1920 summarizing the theories of disease distribution, the effect they believed sanitation played a role in disease, the methods used to control the spread of diseases, and the effectiveness of those controls. An understanding of the historical evolution of the understanding and controls of these diseases can be valuable to the development of programs to educate affected populations and control these diseases in developing countries where resources and infrastructure may be at similar stages of development. It will also serve to show the development of epidemiological principles and practices during the rise of industrialization.