A Swiss Doctor Fights Cholera : In Ottoman Bosnia

Abstract

Josef Koetschet, a Swiss physician, was one important figure of the 1866 cholera epidemic in Sarajevo. He contributed to the health of the Ottoman population with the medical knowledge he had gained in Europe and thus played a crucial role in the containment of cholera in the region. His work as public doctor is of remarkable interest in the history of sanitary measures in the Ottoman Empire, especially in the light of the recent Covid-19 pandemic.