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One of the greatest epidemics in history was the bubonic plague, a disease responsible for the death of a third of the population of Europe in two years time. From 1348 to 1350 more than 20 million people were killed as a result of what became known as the Black Death, (Jonsen et al. 1993, 5). Much of what is known about the plague comes from medieval writers like Boccaccio and Villani. In VillaniÆs Chronicles (1961), the author fails to note that the basic sanitary conditions of Florence were instrumental in providing a breeding ground for infection, though he does suspect that the abundant filth of his beloved city has something to do with the recurring plagues, (114). Modern public health care policies now implement sanitation systems and clean sources of water as the main preventive strategies for preventing the spread of infectious diseases. In Decameron, Boccaccio (1972) wrote that the plague ôspread without stop from one place to anotheràalthough city the city was cleaned of much filth by chosen officers in charge and sick persons were prevented to enter it,ö (46). Once more we see quarantine and efforts at sanitation to prevent the spread of diseases in historical epidemics that are still relied upon in the modern era.
Boccaccio also describes the impact of the disease on Florence and its people in a way that reveals another aspect of historical epidemics that has shaped modern public health care institutions and policy. The fear and fatalities associated with the disease gave rise to quackery of all forms. As Boccaccio (1972) reveals, physicians charged enormous sums for treatments that were pathetically useless. Regulatory agencies and bodies now exist to prevent such victimization of the ill in modern health care. Another aspect of modern health care relating to historical epidemics has to do with access to care for marginalized populations. During the Black Death, Boccaccio (1972) reveals that...