{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]],"date-time":"2026-05-27T22:21:04Z","timestamp":1779920464879,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,12]],"date-time":"2021-07-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1626048000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/bmj.com\/coronavirus\/usage"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,29]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>COVID-19 represents one of the most challenging global health issues in modern times. However, as epidemics have affected humans since our origins, many before us have described how significantly they compromise human lives. Leaving apart the aspects more linked to medicine and health sciences, we focus here on analysing how epidemics force people to change their habits, what type of emotions and behaviours they promote, and which roles are played by different social actors. For such a purpose, especially if we wish to draw some parallels between past epidemics and COVID-19, historical records seemed to be more suitable than literary works. Nonetheless, we have taken this approach relying on <jats:italic>La Peste<\/jats:italic> (Albert Camus, 1947), a novel based on a fictional epidemic of plague in the Algerian town of Oran. Far from creating a barrier separating fiction from reality, this reading allowed us to establish several links with our current situation. Recognising that context and solutions vary widely between the two scenarios, core matters concerning epidemics seemed to remain invariable. The important role of data and statistics, the leadership acquired by health authorities, the separations of relatives or the negative effects on trade and business are some issues which took place in Oran as well as nowadays. Besides that, epidemics also affect humans at an individual level, and certain thoughts and feelings in <jats:italic>La Peste<\/jats:italic>\u2019s main characters may make us identify with our own fears and desires.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2021-012156","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,12]],"date-time":"2021-07-12T13:25:20Z","timestamp":1626096320000},"page":"e4-e4","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["A mirror in fiction: drawing parallelisms between Camus\u2019s <i>La Peste<\/i> and COVID-19"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"47","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8941-7261","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"C\u00e9sar","family":"P\u00e9rez Romero","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National School of Public Health, Carlos III Health Institute, Madrid E-28029, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,12]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1057\/s41599-020-0523-3","article-title":"\u201cSentiments and Emotions Evoked by News Headlines of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak.\u201d","volume":"7","author":"Aslam","year":"2020","journal-title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications"},{"key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMoa2035389"},{"key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102291","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajp.2020.102291","article-title":"\u201cRevisiting \u2018The Plague\u2019 by Camus: Shaping the \u2018Social Absurdity\u2019 of the COVID-19 Pandemic.\u201d","volume":"54","author":"Banerjee","year":"2020","journal-title":"Asian Journal of Psychiatry"},{"issue":"10235","key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1479","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30811-4","article-title":"\u201cThe Worst Is Not, so Long as We Can Say \u2018This Is the Worst\u2019.\u201d","volume":"395","author":"Bate","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1038\/s41541-020-00243-x","article-title":"\u201cAD26 Vector-Based Covid-19 Vaccine Encoding a Prefusion-Stabilized Sars-Cov-2 Spike Immunogen Induces Potent Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses.\u201d","volume":"5","author":"Bos","year":"2020","journal-title":"NPJ Vaccines"},{"issue":"2","key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111","DOI":"10.1007\/s11017-018-9436-1","article-title":"\u201cPhysician-Assisted Dying: Thoughts Drawn from Albert Camus\u2019 Writing.\u201d","volume":"39","author":"Bozzaro","year":"2018","journal-title":"Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics"},{"key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.7","unstructured":"Camus Albert . 1939. Noces. Alger: Charlot."},{"key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.8","unstructured":"Camus Albert . 1947. La Peste. Paris: Gallimard."},{"key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.9","unstructured":"Camus Albert . 1958. L\u2019Envers et l\u2019Endroit. Paris: Gallimard."},{"key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.10","unstructured":"Camus Albert . 1972. La Peste. Paris: Gallimard."},{"key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.11","unstructured":"Camus Albert . 2002. The Plague. Translated by Robin Buss. London: Penguin. Tagusbooks."},{"key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.12","unstructured":"Camus Albert . 2013. El Hombre rebelde. Translated by Josep Escu\u00e9. Madrid: Alianza Editorial."},{"key":"2025092412164427000_47.3.e4.13","unstructured":"CDC. n.d.a . \u201cPlague: Ecology & Transmission.\u201d CDC website. 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Infectious Diseases"}],"container-title":["Medical Humanities"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/medhum-2021-012156","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,24]],"date-time":"2025-09-24T19:17:14Z","timestamp":1758741434000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/mh.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/medhum-2021-012156"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,12]]},"references-count":57,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,20]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,9]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/medhum-2021-012156"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/medhum-2021-012156","relation":{},"ISSN":["1468-215X","1473-4265"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1468-215X","type":"print"},{"value":"1473-4265","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,12]]}}}