Epidemics

caring for living things

How have we responded to epidemics during the past thousands of years?

Plague, smallpox, cholera, the 1918 flu, AIDS and – most recently – Covid-19 … For thousands of years, epidemics have had an impact on human societies and other animal species. As a historical investigation,

Epidemics. Caring for living things looks back on these life-changing events that have occurred across all continents. Through medical and ethnographic collections, natural history specimens and contemporary works, the exhibition demonstrates that epidemics are a social as well as a biological phenomenon. It also reveals the extent to which human health, animal health and environmental health are inextricably linked.

An exhibition by the Musée des Confluences based on an original concept from the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington

Book

The exhibition route

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Humans, animals and microorganisms

By bursting into our lives in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic reminded us that our societies have lived with epidemics for millennia. And far from impacting human beings alone, epidemics affect the entire living world. Therefore, it’s also by analysing interspecies relationships that we can come to understand these complex phenomena, which are both biological and social.

Exposition Épidémies, prendre soin du vivant

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The days of the great plagues

During Antiquity, the Roman and Byzantine Empire conquered new lands, built densely populated cities and traded far beyond their borders. Such development provided conditions well suited to epidemics.

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New epidemic scales

While the great plagues of bygone days spread across three continents, smallpox and the so-called “Spanish” flu are two examples of epidemics that became pandemics: they impacted the whole world.

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Studying, seeing and cultivating microbes

Intensive research developed in the 19^th century. Hygienists mapped epidemics, the first epidemiological surveys were carried out and microbiologists made bacteria and viruses visible. Across the world, they went on to “domesticate” infectious agents in laboratories in order to develop vaccines and serums.

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Emerging diseases and new actors

While the bacteriological revolution, eradication of smallpox and discovery of antibiotics raised hopes of conquering infectious diseases, the appearance of the Ebola virus and AIDS marked the end of such utopian dreams and saw new actors committing themselves to the fight against epidemics.

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Memories of epidemics

Epidemics disrupt every aspect of life in society, spurring individuals and communities to take action at scientific and political level alike. But the history of epidemics doesn’t only involve humans. It’s a shared history, in which animals and microorganisms are also stakeholders.

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Le musée sera fermé le mercredi 1^er mai.