Hospitals as amplifiers of infectious diseases
Lyn Gilbert
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
Centre for Infectious Disease and Microbiology
Westmead Hospital
Marie Bashir Institute for Emerging Infections and Biosecurity
University of Sydney
Tel: +61 2 9845 6252
Email: lyn.gilbert@sydney.edu.au
Microbiology Australia 35(1) 5-9 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA14003
Published: 17 February 2014
Abstract
Institutions for the care of the sick and relief of the poor date back at least to ancient Egypt and Greece. In Europe they were generally run by religious communities (Fig. 1), until the Reformation, in the 16–17th Century, when many passed from Church, to secular control. ‘Modern’ hospitals, which would become centres of medical innovation, research and training, were first established during the Enlightenment, in the 18th Century, funded by wealthy benefactors, specifically for care of the sick.
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