How Epidemics End

A discussion on how evolutionary biology and biological anthropology help understand the end of epidemics, particularly plague. Professor Nils Chr. Stenseth (University of Oslo) and Professor Barbara Bramanti (University of Ferrara) discuss with Professor Erica Charters how incorporating ecological and evolutionary understandings of disease explain the end of epidemics.

A discussion on why multi-disciplinary approaches that combine social and biological research are helpful in understanding how epidemics end. Professor Clark Larsen (The Ohio State) and Professor Fabian Crespo (Louisville) discuss with Professor Erica Charters how biology and archaeology measure the end of epidemics, including leprosy and plague.

Professor Cristiana Bastos (Lisbon) and Professor Erica Charters discuss how anthropology and ethnology measure the end of epidemics, including HIV/AIDS, and the difference between illness and disease.

Professor Christl Donnelly (Oxford and Imperial) and Dr Erica Charters discuss how statistical and mathematical epidemiology measure the end of epidemics, including BSE, Ebola, influenza, and Covid-19. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Dr Carolyn Eastman (VCU) and Dr Erica Charters discuss how epidemics of yellow fever ended in 1790s New York, and the multiple ends of an epidemic for different parts of a society. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Professor Virginia Berridge (LSHTM) and Dr Erica Charters discuss swine flu, HIV/AIDS, and the history of health policy as ways to define the political end of an epidemic.

Kristin Heitman talks with Dora Vargha (Exeter) and Arthur Rose (Exeter) about the nature and power of narrative in forming both our expectations about epidemics and the ways that we decide when and how they have ended.

Professor Paul Kelton (Stony Brook) and Dr Erica Charters discuss the role of smallpox in American indigenous history and culture and how smallpox finally ended.

Dr Monica H. Green (Independent Historian), Dr Nükhet Varlık (Rutgers), and Dr Erica Charters discuss how global history and the historicist sciences have shaped our understanding of plague pandemics.

Dr. Alberto Giubilini (Oxford) and Dr. Kristin Heitman discuss ethical issues raised in efforts to balance individual freedoms and social measures to control the spread of disease.