Abstract：
The analysis of past epidemics and pandemics, either spontaneous or of human origin, may revise the physical history of microbiota and create a temporal context in our understanding regarding pathogen attributes like virulence, evolution, transmission and disease dynamics. The data of high-tech scientific methods seem reliable, but their interpretation may still be biased when tackling events of the distant past. Such endeavors should be adjusted to other cognitive resources including historical accounts reporting the events of interest and references in alien medical cultures and terminologies; the latter may contextualize them differently from current practices. Thus \'historical microbiology\' emerges. Validating such resources requires utmost care, as these may be susceptible to different biases regarding the interpretation of facts and phenomena; biases partly due to methodological limitations.
Bacteria and viruses have always impacted humankind. They do this directly by causing illness or indirectly by destroying crops and threatening livestock. We can learn a lot by studying disease events of the past – for example, we can see how bacteria and viruses have changed over time and predict how they might change in the future. This knowledge could be important to understanding present disease events and predicting future ones. In this review, we propose the concept of \'historical microbiology’, which encourages collaboration between scientists, doctors, historians and linguists to provide historical, linguistic and cultural context to our scientific understanding of diseases of the past.
Bacteria and viruses have always impacted humankind. They do this directly by causing illness or indirectly by destroying crops and threatening livestock. We can learn a lot by studying disease events of the past – for example, we can see how bacteria and viruses have changed over time and predict how they might change in the future. This knowledge could be important to understanding present disease events and predicting future ones. In this review, we propose the concept of \'historical microbiology’, which encourages collaboration between scientists, doctors, historians and linguists to provide historical, linguistic and cultural context to our scientific understanding of diseases of the past.
摘要：
对过去的流行病和大流行的分析，无论是自发的还是人类起源的，可能会修改微生物群的物理史，并在我们对病原体属性如毒力的理解中创造一个时间背景，进化,传播和疾病动力学。高科技科学方法的数据似乎可靠，但是在处理遥远过去的事件时，他们的解释可能仍然有偏见。此类努力应根据其他认知资源进行调整，包括报告感兴趣事件的历史记载以及外来医学文化和术语中的参考；后者可能与当前实践不同。因此，“历史微生物学”应运而生。验证这些资源需要格外小心，因为这些可能容易受到关于事实和现象的解释的不同偏见；偏见部分是由于方法上的限制。
细菌和病毒一直影响着人类。他们通过直接导致疾病或间接通过破坏农作物和威胁牲畜来做到这一点。通过研究过去的疾病事件，我们可以学到很多东西-例如，我们可以看到细菌和病毒如何随着时间的推移而变化，并预测它们在未来可能会如何变化。这些知识对于理解当前的疾病事件和预测未来的疾病事件可能很重要。在这次审查中,我们提出了“历史微生物学”的概念，这鼓励了科学家之间的合作，医生,历史学家和语言学家提供历史，我们对过去疾病的科学理解的语言和文化背景。
细菌和病毒一直影响着人类。他们通过直接导致疾病或间接通过破坏农作物和威胁牲畜来做到这一点。通过研究过去的疾病事件，我们可以学到很多东西-例如，我们可以看到细菌和病毒如何随着时间的推移而变化，并预测它们在未来可能会如何变化。这些知识对于理解当前的疾病事件和预测未来的疾病事件可能很重要。在这次审查中,我们提出了“历史微生物学”的概念，这鼓励了科学家之间的合作，医生,历史学家和语言学家提供历史，我们对过去疾病的科学理解的语言和文化背景。
