Public Health, Laboratory Experiment, and Asymptomatic Carriers in Japan, ca. 1920–1950

Bibliographic Data

ID15674261
AuthorsAyako Suzuki (0000-0002-5142-3180, Keio University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume13
Issue1
Pages39-55
Publication date2019-01-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEast Asian Science Technology and Society An International Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1875-2152 • E-ISSN: 1875-2160
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1215/18752160-7338190
OpenAlexW2911821858
LanguageEN
References cited27

From the 1920s and 1930s, discussion of asymptomatic carriers started to appear in Japan and quickly became well established. Two important frameworks here were public health and laboratory experiment. Japanese public health policies existed in theory, isolating asymptomatic carriers within their own family to prevent infection of others. These theoretical policies did not, however, attract great attention either from doctors, carriers, or family members. The crucial aspect in Japan was laboratory experiment. Japanese doctors concentrated on experimenting with animals as carriers of typhoid and other asymptomatic infections, trying to incorporate the latest theories of life and death taken from physiology. One reason for the relative neglect of the public health and isolation policy was the ongoing presence of a large number of patients with such diseases; another was the prestige of the laboratory as intellectual authority among well-trained doctors

Asymptomatic · Asymptomatic carrier · Environmental health · Political science · Public health · Historical and Scientific Studies · History of Medicine and Tropical Health · Medical History and Research · Medicine · Nursing · Internal Medicine

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