page_title: Fever hospital
hierarchical_section_title: Fever hospital
context_page_description: A fever hospital or isolation hospital is a hospital for infectious diseases such as scarlet fever and smallpox. Their purpose is to treat affected people while isolating them from the general population. Early examples in England included the Liverpool Fever Hospital and the London Fever Hospital.
  The hospitals became common in England when laws were passed at the end of the 19th century, requiring notification of infectious diseases so that public health officers could ensure that the patients were isolated. During the 20th century, immunisation and antibiotics reduced the impact of these diseases. After the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948, the hospitals were wound down so that, by 1968, there were few left.
  The concept of a hospital dedicated to isolation and care during an outbreak of an infectious disease remains relevant in the 21st century, to the extent that public health efforts cannot reduce the risk of outbreaks to zero. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided examples of temporary dedicated hospitals or hospital wings or annexes.
context_section_description: A fever hospital or isolation hospital is a hospital for infectious diseases such as scarlet fever and smallpox.  Their purpose is to treat affected people while isolating them from the general population.  Early examples in England included the Liverpool Fever Hospital (1801) and the London Fever Hospital (1802).
  The hospitals became common in England when laws were passed at the end of the 19th century, requiring notification of infectious diseases so that public health officers could ensure that the patients were isolated.  During the 20th century, immunisation and antibiotics reduced the impact of these diseases.  After the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948, the hospitals were wound down so that, by 1968, there were few left.    
  The concept of a hospital dedicated to isolation and care during an outbreak of an infectious disease remains relevant in the 21st century, to the extent that public health efforts cannot reduce the risk of outbreaks to zero (although they remain critical, and more than pay for themselves, by reducing the risks to low non-zero levels). The COVID-19 pandemic has provided examples of temporary dedicated hospitals or (especially) hospital wings or annexes (for example, COVID-19 hospitals in the United Kingdom).
caption: Smallpox hospital ships moored at Long Reach.  They are (L–R) Atlas, Endymion and Castalia.  The latter had two hulls on which hospital buildings were constructed.
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