The Great Manchurian Plague of 1910-1911: The Geopolitics of an Epidemic Disease
William C. Summers
Abstract
When plague broke out in Manchuria in 1910 due to transmission of marmots to humans, it struck a region struggling with the introduction of Western medicine, as well as with the interactions of three different national powers: Chinese, Japanese, and Russian. This book relates how this plague killed as many as 60,000 people in less than a year, and uses the analysis to examine the actions and interactions of the multinational doctors, politicians, and ordinary residents who responded to it. It covers the complex political and economic background of early twentieth-century Manchuria and then mov ... More
When plague broke out in Manchuria in 1910 due to transmission of marmots to humans, it struck a region struggling with the introduction of Western medicine, as well as with the interactions of three different national powers: Chinese, Japanese, and Russian. This book relates how this plague killed as many as 60,000 people in less than a year, and uses the analysis to examine the actions and interactions of the multinational doctors, politicians, and ordinary residents who responded to it. It covers the complex political and economic background of early twentieth-century Manchuria and then moves on to the plague itself, addressing the various contested stories of the plague's origins, development, and ecological ties. Ultimately, the book shows how because of Manchuria's importance to the world powers of its day, the plague brought together resources, knowledge, and people in the ways that enacted in miniature the triumphs and challenges of transnational medical projects such as the World Health Organization. The outcomes still have lessons for all today.
Keywords:
plague,
Manchuria,
marmots,
World Health Organization,
origins of plague,
medical projects
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2012 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780300183191 |
| Published to Yale Scholarship Online: October 2013 |
DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300183191.001.0001 |
