Epidemics
Epidemics were common before education was made available to the masses. People were not taught the ways of preventing the spread of simple contagious diseases. Hospitals were few and medicine was not available.
Whenever there was an epidemic, the authorities and the people did not know what to do. Some blamed the epidemic on people coming from other countries. Others thought it was caused by eating a kind of fish. Still other thought it was because of an unfriendly spirit.
After mass education and vaccination were introduced, the epidemics became less. During the 1600’s smallpox raged throughout the country. The supply of food was affected because sick adults could not work. Those who were not sick could not work either because they had to take care of the sick children in their families.
Today, we know that epidemics can be stopped and avoided by observing simple health rules in our everyday life.