A group of physicians carrying a dummy with a skeleton head, representative of a patient with disease, parade through town. They comment amongst themselves that the disease is contagious to all but physicians and cheer on the use of this device. People run and scream from the physicians. This scene was displayed in an 1832 English satirical cartoon, and the disease of interest is Cholera (Heath, 1832). Meant to demonstrate the fear the public felt towards Cholera and the suggestion that doctors were more interested in monetary and scientific gain than curing people of disease, this is one example of many images that defined the experience of Cholera in England and France. Art continues to be crucial in understanding living through a pandemic, with similar images being produced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

These cartoons are reflections of public opinion and real-time reactions to disease. From assessing these, it is possible to gain a deeper understanding, not only of lived experiences during outbreaks, but the perceptions of authority figures during such moments, which can help to inform how to address future pandemics. This project qualitatively analyzes visual media, particularly cartoons and satirical images, produced during the Cholera pandemics between 1817 and 1860 in England and France, and compares them to those produced during the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2021 in Canada. The cartoons will be compared on themes of fear and blame, demonstrating similarities in public sentiment regarding disease and outbreak control, despite advances in scientific knowledge. This expands upon current literature on graphic medicine and the importance of public images in understanding the experience of disease, particularly related to blame during pandemics (Labbé et al., 2022). Ultimately, this analysis may allow healthcare professionals to gain more holistic knowledge of the public experience of pandemic to inform future responses.

Sophie is currently a second-year medical student at the DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University. Prior to this, she completed a Master of Health Information Science and an Honours Bachelor of Science in Integrated Science and Chemistry at Western University.

COI Disclosure: I do not have an affiliation (financial or otherwise) with any for-profit or not-for-profit organizations