Contagion! "A 'Pox' On Both Your Houses"

The COVID-19 pandemic renewed interest in the global history of infectious diseases. This year’s lecture series presented by History Department faculty and other experts focuses on different periods in world history when societies faced pandemics and their consequences.

In the fourth lecture, Michaela Reaves, PhD, will address the history of smallpox. Whether the Bard meant “a plague” or “the pox,” both served as a warning of dire results. Smallpox can be traced through history from the mummy of Ramses V up to 1980, when the disease was considered eradicated. Through 3,000 years of contagion, variolation or vaccine, the disease maintained a death rate of 30% and affected both the “Old” and “New” worlds.

Admission is free, but registration is required.

The series will continue with:

• March 10: Chris Kimball, “The First Modern Pandemic: Spanish Influenza”
• April 19: Dr. Robert J. Kim-Farley, “COVID-19 and the Effectiveness of Our Response”

The series is sponsored by Cal Lutheran, the Thousand Oaks Grant R. Brimhall Library and Ventura County Library, and generously funded in part by a Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation grant. For information, contact David Nelson at dnelson@CalLutheran.edu.

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