What was the function of a pest house in the preindustrial period?

Question

Options

• ATo house people who had a contagious disease.
• BTo provide refuge to those who were threatened by pests.
• CTo eradicate pests.
• DTo treat contagious diseases.

• A
  93% (25)
• C
  4% (1)
• D
  4% (1)

Explanation

A pest house (also called a pesthouse or plague house) was a facility used to isolate individuals with contagious diseases - particularly plague, smallpox, and cholera - from the general population, making A correct. The term "pest" in this historical context referred to pestilence (infectious disease), not insects or rodents, which rules out B and C. Option D is tempting but wrong: pest houses were primarily places of isolation, not active medical treatment - care was minimal and the goal was containment, not cure. A helpful memory tip: think of "pest" as short for "pestilence" - the pest house was where the pestilent (contagiously ill) were housed away from others.

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