Epidemiology is the study of diseases that strike on an epidemic scale. There have been many examples of this throughout history, some of the most notable being polio, the flu, or even the black plague. Epidemiology's main goal is to figure out how to combat and prevent these epidemics from happening again. It focuses a lot on patterns as well, as well as the conditions of the populations affected.

Epidemiology, which means "the study of what is upon people", is a study focuses primarily on humans. Epidemiology is also used by zoologists when studying animal populations, even though "epizoology" does exist. Studies into plant populations have also used the word for botanical/plant disease epidemiology.

Epidemiologists collect data through statistical analysis, design, and collection of the epidemics. They spend most of their day fixing interpretations previously made inaccurately as well a lot of peer review. Most fields that relate to medicine in some way have a bit of epidemiology in them, as the preventative measures provided by epidemiologists can and does prevent the transference of diseases.

The study of epidemiology dates to the time of Hippocrates, when he would create the first definitions and separation of epidemic (the disease comes in to infect) and endemic (the disease is spread within the population). He is known as the father of medicine, and as such constantly strived to find new cures to sickness of any kind. Hippocrates would be the first person to examine relationships between diseases and environmental influences. However, he believed that humanity got sick from an imbalanced "humors", of which we had 4 (air, fire, water and earth). He believed that to cure sickness, the humors had to be balanced.

Epidemiology would not advance after this point until the 16^th century, with Girolamo Fracastoro of Verona. He was a doctor and was the first to propose small particles were the cause of the spread of disease and that they were alive. He proposes that they spread by the air, multiple by themselves, and could be destroyed by fire. In 1543, he would write De contagion et contagiosis morbis, which was the first book to really emphasize hygiene on a personal and environmental level.

Many scientists would go on afterwards to further Epidemiology. With the development of microscopes powerful enough to examine contagions, Antoine van Leeuwenhoek would provide visual evidence of the living particles, which would coincide with germ theory of diseases.

Wu Youke would develop the concept that diseases were caused by transmissible agents. His book is widely regarded as the original creator of germ theory, though credit would fall mostly to westerners. Thomas Sydenham, who was also a pioneer in Epidemiology, was the first person to be able to tell fevers in London, even though his theories were met with much resistance of the scientific community at the time.

Epidemiology has a wide, rich history that is constantly learning more information about our present and past. Figuring out how the past diseases would come upon a wide scale amount of people helps us prepare for the future, and constant research into newer ones helps garner knowledge. This allows scientists to correlate between past and current epidemics, and create new strategies towards fighting them.

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