Erin Welsh

We've talked about how this is an era pre-germ theory, but that doesn't mean that contagion was not a concept.

And so, you know, just based on what you said, it was clear that people saw the connection.

It was like, OK, well, we know the root of transmission.

How much did just the act of sex, was that everything or was it also a role of constitution type of sex?

You know, what were the set of circumstances that people believed led to somebody else developing or transmitting pox?

In your book, you describe the pox as seeming modern for its moment.

And you call it the first modern disease.

Can you tell me more about what you mean by the first modern disease and how this perception is kind of reflected in writings from the time?

I was just thinking about this the other day, how this huge transition into putting diseases into boxes, standardizing them.

Everyone, as you said, has the same signs and symptoms, has the same diagnosis, has the same treatment, and is expected to have the same disease, you know, progression course.

And I feel like now we're finally like in modern medicine today or like cutting edge is like it's all about precision medicine.

It's all about seeing each individual.

And so we've almost in a way come full circle.

Let's take a quick break here.

We'll be back before you know it.

Healing is the shift from survival into choice.

Welcome back, everyone.

I'm here chatting with the wonderful Dr. Olivia Weiser about her book, The Dreaded Pox.

Let's get into some more questions.

It was anonymous out of necessity, right, because of this disease was so shameful.