Despite lack of students, college dorms are not abandoned during summer months. Universities host camps, extracurriculars, and even summer tourists. Maintenance teams also get to work.
Parasitic infections were likely widespread in New England, even in remote areas and in wealthy households, report archaeologists who analyzed excavated fecal samples.
Parasitic infections, including tapeworm and whipworm, were a common problem in the United States until the 20th century. The common belief is that these infections mainly affected lower-income, urban areas where conditions including shared public spaces, lack of sewage systems, and poor sanitation were prime for disease spread.
However, the new research, published in the
“Unlike today, when high-income households are less likely to exhibit signs of infection, wealth and status did not apparently provide insulation from infection exposure in this rural setting, despite likely having greater access to medicines and improved sanitation,” says Theresa Gildner, assistant professor of biological archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis.
Research suggests disease may have been more widespread in New England than previously thought
A photograph likely from the 1860s showing the Dartmouth College Congressionalist Church and vestry
(left) and the adjacent Ripley/Choate House. (Photo courtesy of the Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth)
May 3, 2021 SHARE
Parasitic infections, including tapeworm and whipworm, were a common problem in the United States until the 20th century. It is commonly believed that these infections mainly impacted lower-income, urban areas where conditions including shared public spaces, lack of sewage systems and poor sanitation were prime for disease spread.
However, new research conducted by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Dartmouth College and published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports suggests that parasitic disease was likely widespread in New England, even in remote rural areas and in wealthy households.