pesthouse n : hospital for persons with infectious diseases (especially leprosy) [syn: lazaretto, lazaret, lazarette, lazar house]

In the past, a pest house or pesthouse was a hospital or hostel used for persons afflicted with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, or smallpox. Often used for forcible quarantine, many towns and cities had one or more pesthouses accompanied by a cemetery or a waste pond nearby for disposal of the dead.

A 2007 novel by Jim Crace is entitled, The Pesthouse.

References

For a basic dictionary definition, see American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company [as cited on http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pest+house, among others]

External links

• Lynchburg VA Museum pesthouse
• Findon Pesthouse
• The Pest House Odiham
• Pest house memories by Doug Monroe (review of The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry)