Iranian Medicine's Encounter with the Cholera and Plague Epidemics in Qajar Iran in the 19th Century

Cholera and plague were widespread deadly epidemics and diseases which broke out in the some regions of Iran for several times during the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the early 20th century, the spreading of these diseases ceased due to the introduction of modern sanitary rules and principles, development of public health and the use of some preventive measures. This article discusses the Iranian medicine’s reaction to the cholera and plague outbreaks in the 19th century. The main concern is how the discourse of the Iranian medicine dealt with the problem of cholera and plague when these diseases emerged. The subject is how this kind of knowledge diagnosed these diseases, what nature it assumed for them and what treatments prescribed. This study focuses on the first decades of the emerging of those epidemics before the encounter of Iranian medicine with modern western medicine.