Epidemics in the Americas: major issues and future research.

Abstract

The author discusses the problems associated with the study of epidemics in the Americas. He indicates that "study of the history of the epidemics in the Americas faces peculiar difficulties inherent in any topic which covers the New World from pole to pole in a widely interdisciplinary range.... The interdisciplinary nature of the theme exposes the inadequacies of our bibliographies and indexes, especially those by field of study. The topic apparently falls between the interstices of anthropological, historical, and even medical indexes, including the international medical index." He then proposes new avenues of research that may prove helpful.