TreStoreKøbenhavnskeEpidemier-3.31.2016 11-22-36 PM

the Military Hospital o f Copenhagen in Tagensvej was taken over b y Rigshospitalet. The first two hospitals for civilians were Frederiks Hospital from 17 5 7 and Almin­ delig Hospital from 176 9 . These hospitals continued as respectively Rigshospitalet (19 10 ) and Kommunehospitalet (The Municipal Hospital) (18 6 3). Since then especially the Copenhagen hospital service has developed considerably: 1886 Vestre Hospital (later on called Rudolph Bergs Hospital), 19 0 1-0 2 Sundby Hos­ pital, 19 0 3 Balders Hospital and 1 9 1 3 Bispebjerg Hospital. A number o f private hospitals relieved the pressure on the hospitalservice o f Copen­ hagen: St. Josephs Hospital 18 7 5 , Dronning Louises Bømehospital 18 79 , Diakonisse­ stiftelsen 18 8 3 , St. Lukas Stiftelsen 1894 , Finsensinstituttet 1898 , St. Elisabeths Hos­ pital 1905-65, Radiumstationen 19 29 and Ortopædisk Hospital 19 3 5 . In 19 7 5 Hvidovre Hospital was opened. A t the same time Øresundshospitalet (built as an isolation hospital in 18 78 ) and Rudolph Bergs Hospital were changed into nur­ sing institutions. Blegdamshospitalet was built in 18 79 as an independent isolation Hospital for Copenhagen. In 19 7 4 it was incorporated as isolation ward o f Rigshospitalet. Plague was well-known from antiquity and is described even in the Bible. The most violent epidemic we know o f is the Black Death about 13 5 0 , which reduced the popu­ lation o f Europe by about a fourth. In Denmark epidemics o f plague have revaged during the Middle Age and recent times. The last Danish epidemic was the one in Copenhagen in 1 7 1 1 . Plague is an infectious disease caused by yersinia pestis and transmitted by rat fleas. It is primarily a zoonosis but can be transmitted to human beings. The disease is most­ ly seen as bubonic plague. The special variant called pneumonic plague is passed direct­ ly from person to person. Untreated both forms have high rates o f mortality, but trea­ ted with modern chemotherapeutics they involve only a small danger. In 1 7 1 1 Denmark was in the middle o f Store Nordiske Krig. The battle o f Helsing­ borg was lost in 1 7 1 0 , and it was important to make no more concessions to the Swedes. All the countries at war were threatened by a plague epidemic, which in 17 0 9 - 17 10 was ravaging the countries along the south coast o f the Baltic Sea. It spread rapidly with the troops to the north and reached Finland, Sweden and Denmark in 1 7 1 0 - 1 1 , while Norway escaped. Before the epidemic in Copenhagen, Denmark was surrounded by plague, - North Germany, Finland and Sweden having been hit first. Attempts to keep the disease o ff Denmark were made b y prohibiting trade with plagueinfected harbours. Ships without a bill o f health had to moor at special quarantine stations and be in a 40 days’ quaran­ tine. Already in 170 9 the Medical Faculty issued instructions on how to behave in case o f plague. The doctors o f Denmark were still divided into two groups o f completely different educations: the surgeons with their apprenticeship-system and practical experience, and the physicians who graduated from university with a wide theoretical knowledge. Most o f the physicians and some o f the surgeons were immigrated Germans. Also the vicars played an important part in the combating o f the epidemic. It was their duty to report infectious diseases to the public authorities and to be spiritual ad­ visers o f their parishioners in critical situations. The plague started in Helsingør in the winter o f 1 7 1 0 - 1 1 and spread during the spring and the summer to the capital. As soon as it was certain that the disease had broken out a Health Commission was appointed, representing physicians, citizens, the city council, the clergy and the navy. The Health Commission worked on the principles o f seeking-out the sick and in­ fected and isolating them. Two emergency hospitals were established: one in »Vod- Palgue

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