The first of the Sanitary Conferences was organized by the French Government in 1851 to standardize international quarantine regulations against the spread of cholera, plague, and yellow fever.
During this time period, the city-state of Venice (considered to be the first international center of commerce) was first to apply quarantine procedures to protect their population and territory against plague.
Among others, the Royal Academy of Medicine of Paris in June 1831 sent Auguste Gérardin and Paul Gaimard on medical mission to Russia, Prussia, and Austria.
[7] The third International Sanitary Conference opened in Istanbul on 13 February 1866 under the initiative of the French Government after the 1865 cholera outbreak in Europe.
[3] The sixth International Sanitary Conference opened in Rome on 20 May 1885 by the Italian government as a result of the reappearance of cholera in Egypt in 1883.
[citation needed] The eighth International Sanitary Conference opened in Dresden on 11 March 1893 under the initiative of the Austria-Hungarian government with nineteen European countries as participants.
[citation needed] The ninth International Sanitary Conference opened in Paris on 7 February 1894 with France as its convener and sixteen countries as participants.
[citation needed] There was no conference in 1933, but in The Hague representatives of various countries signed the International Sanitary Convention for Aerial Navigation, which went into force on 1 August 1935.
[citation needed] The fourteenth and last International Sanitary Conference was convened by the French Government at the instigation of Egypt on 28 October 1938 with representatives of almost 50 countries as participants.