ABSTRACT
William Budd typhoid fever hypothesis, described in his ‘On intestinal fever’ paper published in The Lancet 1859, was initially disputed by many contemporaries due to his contagion hypothesis. Budd carried on his post as a physician at Bristol’s hospitals and went on to lecture at Bristol Medical School. He also continued his research on infectious diseases in humans such as scarlet fever and in animals such as smallpox. In 1873, Budd’s health deteriorated after what he believed was another round of typhoid fever and he had to retire from his work later that year after becoming hemiplegic following a stroke. He became acknowledged as one of the pioneers of modern epidemiology and his great influence on Great Britain and Ireland’s view on clean water supplies and sewage drainage fulfilled his deep interest in the prevention of disease.
