Dealing with an epidemic in 19th-century Egypt
(05-05-2020) Belgian physician Pierre Dutrieux' views on deconfinement in the throes of a cholera epidemic in 19th century Egypt
After a stint in the Congo, Dutrieux settled in Egypt and started to focus on international health and sanitation issues such as eye diseases and cholera around 1880. In the debate on infectious desease control, he was a staunch advocate of an international system of 'sanitary control', entailing 'rigorous medical inspections' and 'serious disinfection', which was to replace the often arbitrary national quarantine regimes. This focus on personal sanitary responsibility enforced by external control has recently been gaining ground in the Belgian COVID-19 debate.