“Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the Spanish Crown developed a policy of strict quarantine whenever an epidemic broke out in its American colonies…”

So begins today’s story from Dr. Paul Ramírez. 

For further reading:
Enlightened Immunity: Mexico's Experiments with Disease Prevention in the Age of Reason by Paul Ramírez (Stanford University Press, 2018) 

Episode transcript:
https://skymichaeljohnston.com/90secnarratives/