The definition of "quarantine" has probably been heard by everyone. This word is used all over the place. We often face the introduction of quarantine on the territories of educational, medical or other government institutions. What is quarantine and what is the history of its appearance?
The essence of quarantine
The definition of "quarantine" has two meanings:
- A sanitary facility used to isolate people, goods, or animals arriving from epidemic-affected areas.
- Isolation of sick people or people who have been in contact with sick people in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
The purpose of quarantine is to isolate the outbreak and prevent further spread of the disease. Modern quarantine facilities have all the technical means to prevent epidemics:
- disinfectants;
- special isolation rooms for the sick;
- sanitary and bacteriological laboratories.
Separately, it is worth highlighting quarantine measures regarding animals. When importing representatives of the world of fauna from other countries, especially if they are removed from the natural environment, for some time they are placed inquarantine zone, as they can be carriers of diseases that are dangerous not only for other animals, but also for people.
Origin story
The term "quarantine" was first used in Italy in the 15th century. When an epidemic of plague occurred, in order to stop its spread on the European continent, all ships that came from infected places were detained, and people were not allowed to land for 40 days. This period was called quarantine.
Later, they began to build special institutions in which the infected and those who were under suspicion were identified. In those days, the definition of "quarantine" meant limited isolated areas in which the sick were.
In the 19th century, new diseases came to Europe: yellow fever and cholera. Then quarantine became associated not only with the plague, but also with any foreign diseases. In 1903, at the Paris International Conference, a number of documents were adopted regulating quarantine as a set of he alth actions.
Quarantine these days
Quarantine measures are often used to prevent epidemics even today. Thanks to such actions, even in modern times, it was possible to cope with such terrible epidemics as bird and swine flu, Ebola and others.
A phenomenon familiar to almost all inhabitants, when local authorities close schools for quarantine, temporarily stopping the educational process. The most common reason for quarantine in educational institutions isrespiratory infections transmitted by airborne droplets. These diseases spread fairly quickly in crowded places.
In schools, quarantine is introduced when the epidemiological threshold of cases in a certain area is exceeded. It is set by the local service of Rospotrebnadzor, based on the number of cases per thousand of the population. In 2015, directors of educational institutions received the right to impose quarantine in a separate class or in the entire school.
Thanks to the timely introduction of quarantine, today it is possible to avoid the uncontrolled spread of dangerous infections over large areas. Thus, quarantine is an effective tool to stop the spread of epidemics.
