Giardia duodenalis and dysentery in Iron Age Jerusalem (7th-6th century BCE).

The aim of this study was to determine if the protozoa that cause dysentery might have been present in Jerusalem, the capital of the Kingdom of Judah, during the Iron Age. Sediments from 2 latrines pertaining to this time period were obtained, 1 dating from the 7th century BCE and another from the 7th to early 6th century BCE. Microscopic investigations have previously shown that the users were infected by whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides), Taenia sp. tapeworm and pinworm (Enterobius vermicularis). However, the protozoa that cause dysentery are fragile and do not survive well in ancient samples in a form recognizable using light microscopy. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits designed to detect the antigens of Entamoeba histolytica, Cryptosporidium sp. and Giardia duodenalis were used. Results for Entamoeba and Cryptosporidium were negative, while Giardia was positive for both latrine sediments when the analysis was repeated three times. This provides our first microbiological evidence for infective diarrhoeal illnesses that would have affected the populations of the ancient near east. When we integrate descriptions from 2nd and 1st millennium BCE Mesopotamian medical texts, it seems likely that outbreaks of dysentery due to giardiasis may have caused ill health throughout early towns across the region.

The dysentery epidemic in Poland in 1920-1921

This article describes in general the issues related to the dysentery epidemic in 1920-1921. The current literature on the subject lacks publications presenting these issues fully. Based on historical sources from that period, including articles published in medical magazines, the incidence rate, the methods and results of the battle against that epidemic were depicted. The article represents an important contribution to a better insight in the struggle of Polish medical services with infectious diseases afflicting people in the first years following the end of World War I. It also sheds light on the development of Polish studies on infectious diseases in the Second Polish Republic, the scientists' belief in the successful treatment of epidemic diseases and understanding of the need to educate people about the rules of hygiene and taking medicines.

Biological and Cultural Causes of Seasonality of Deaths in Historical Populations From Poland.

Seasonal fluctuations in mortality and their causes in the nineteenth century Polish rural populations: wealthy, agriculturally and economically advanced populations from Wielkopolska, and poor populations from Silesia and Galicia (southern Poland) were described. Data-sources included parish death registers from the Roman Catholic parish of Dziekanowice in the region of Wielkopolska, Prussian statistical yearbooks for the Pozna Province as well as information from previous publications regarding Silesia and Galicia. The 19th century patterns were compared with those in present-day Poland. The occurrence of seasonality of deaths was assessed with: the Chi-squared test, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Models (ARIMA). In all populations there was a winter maximum of the number of deaths, while the minimum occurred in early summer. In the poor populations of Silesia and Galicia another statistically significant increase in the incidence of deaths was observed in the early spring. In the rich and modern villages of Wielkopolska there was no spring increase in the number of deaths, however, in all populations of Wielkopolska, irrespective of a particular pattern, a secondary mortality peak occurred in the late summer and autumn. Statistical tests used in this study did not show any clear differences in the distribution of the seasonality of deaths between the populations of Wielkopolska on the one hand, and the populations from Galicia and Silesia, on the other hand. The statistical significance of differences was, however, evident between populations representing the two distinguished by secondary peaks death seasonality patterns. Seasonal death increase split the populations under study into two groups according to the criterion of wealth.

[The medical literature of the Egyptian campaign]. / La littérature médicale de la campagne d'Egypte.

Bonaparte's Egyptian Campaign (1798 - 1801), like all other episodes from the Napoleonic era, gave rise to an extensive literature on the subject, but most of all a significant medical literature. This fact is due to many reasons:--an important health service for this expeditionary corps of more than 36.000 men, with two main figures at its hea, Desgenettes and Larrey--but also with valuable subordinates like Assalini, Savaresi, Balme, Pugnet or Barbès.--A Commission for Science and Art, of which a few doctors and surgeons were members, but most of all pharmacists like Boudet or Rouyer--The presence in the field of Ludwig Frank, the nephew of the famous Johann Peter Frank.--The creation in Cairo of an Egyptian Institute and the publication of the masterly Description of Egypt and the establishment of printing houses.--The emergence of the myth of the Orient and its mysteries.--An extensive array of indigenous pathologies, which is characteristic of those countries. For instance: plague, dysentery, yellow fever, Egyptian ophthalmia, as well as more common diseases like tetanus, scurvy or venereal diseases. The main medical works that cover this period and its pathologies are skimmed.

INCAP studies of nutrition and infection.

As soon as the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) began to study the poor nutritional status and stunting of children in the rural villages of Central America, it was apparent that infections, particularly diarrheas, were also a serious problem. Studies of kwashiorkor indicated that infections precipitated kwashiorkor and anemia in children who were already malnourished. In the 1940s there was almost no suggestion in the literature of a relation between nutrition and infection. INCAP gradually identified the mechanisms by which any infection worsens nutritional status and demonstrated that infections were more severe and more often fatal in malnourished children and adults. These studies ultimately led to the 1968 World Health Organization (WHO) monograph "Interactions of nutrition and infection" and widespread recognition by public health workers of the importance of this relationship for morbidity and mortality in poorly nourished populations.

La Mettrie's soul: vertigo, fever, massacre, and The Natural History.

La Mettrie's materialist and monistic philosophy is that of a military doctor, knowing what dysentery did to his own mind, watching his regiment destroyed at Fontenoy, running French field hospitals in Flanders. He learned brain science in the injuries of his fellows. He knew pain and that man's main positive drive was sex. He despised the prudish hypocrisies of feeble materialists like Diderot and Voltaire. His brutal military life and his hedonism made him the most coherent monist against Cartesian dualism. His study of vertigo is sound clinical medicine, which well accords with one trend in today's medical practice.

[National Institute of Hygiene during the World War 1939-1944]. / Panstwowy Zaklad Higieny w czasie wojny w latach 1939-1944.

The article presents history of the National Institute of Hygiene (PZH) in the period from September 1939 until the fall of Warsaw Uprising (1944). German occupation left unaltered activities, structure and Polish personnel of the Institute, enforcing commissoner board by professor Ernst Nauck, and subsequently--professor Robert Kudicke from Frankfurt. German production of vaccine against typhus exanthematous for German army was managed by German physician--Herman Wohlrab. National Institute of Hygiene was to be a place modelled on Institute for Tropical Diseases in Hamburg. Polish personnel was subject to military regime, however Feliks Przesmycki, PhD started underground production of vaccine against typhus exanthematous for Polish citizens, which was distributed to prisons (Pawiak Prison) and ghetto. Hospital personnel in Warsaw was also vaccinated. Underground studies programme, including editing handbooks, was set up for the students of closed Microbiology Faculty of Warsaw University, and other wartime conspiracy actions were taken. Personnel of National Institute of Hygiene (PZH) protected research equipment and supplies from war plundering, and supported Polish civilians by e.g. reporting about harmfulness of low-quality and polluted food for the Polish, which Germans supplied market with. During Warsaw Uprising Personnel helped the injured and protected the premises of National Institute of Hygiene (PZH) from burning down; mobile army surgical hospital and pharmacy for the participans of Warsaw Uprising functioned within PZH.

Transforming public health?: a critical review of progress made against enteric diseases during the American-led occupation of Japan (1945-52).

Historical assessments of the Occupation's efforts to tackle enteric diseases (cholera, typhoid, paratyphoid and dysentery) have generally reflected a celebratory narrative of US-inspired public health reforms, strongly associated with the head of the Public Health and Welfare Section, Crawford F. Sams. Close inspection of the documentary record, however, reveals much greater continuity with pre-war Japanese public health practices than has hitherto been acknowledged. Indeed, there are strong grounds for disputing American claims of novelty and innovation in such areas as immunisation, particularly in relation to typhoid vaccine, and environmental sanitation, where disparaging comments about the careless use of night soil and a reluctance to control flies and other disease vectors reveal more about the politics of public health reform than the reality of pre-war practices. Likewise, the representation of American-inspired sanitary teams as clearly distinct from and far superior to traditional sanitary associations (eisei kumiai) was closer to propaganda than an accurate rendering of past and present developments.

Water systems and urban sanitation: a historical comparison of Tokyo and Singapore.

The importance of a water supply and sewage treatment for urban sanitation is recognized in the modern world. Their contributions to public health have not, however, been well demonstrated by historical data, especially in Asian cities. In this research, we focused on the Asian cities of Tokyo and Singapore, which both developed significantly in the 20th century. We analysed their development processes statistically to determine what the key elements for the protection of urban sanitation have been. Although both cities constructed modern water supply systems at almost same time (Tokyo in 1898 and Singapore in 1878), and similarly modern wastewater treatment systems (Tokyo in 1922 and Singapore in 1913), the prevalence of water-borne diseases in Tokyo was more serious than it was in Singapore, in spite of Singapore's high infant mortality rate. The main reason for this was the differences in the systems of night-soil transport. We found that the water supply system in itself was not enough to resolve all urban sanitation problems, and appropriate night-soil removal was also crucial. In addition, historical trends and water consumption vary by city, so the appropriate technology and system are also different according to the unique characteristics and needs of each.

Infectious diarrhea in history.

Throughout history, infectious diarrhea has been associated with crowding, poor sanitation, and war. Although descriptions of infectious diarrhea exist in the earliest records of civilization, effective measures for prevention were not widely or consistently used until the modern era of active public health promotion. Advances in the understanding of etiologies and therapies have revolutionized prognosis; however, constant vigilance against lapses in public health is necessary to prevent outbreaks of disease.

[Epidemiological situation of the selected infectious diseases in Poland in 1918-1939]. / Sytuacja epidemiologiczna niektórych ostrych chorób zakaznych w Polsce w okresie miedzywojennym XX wieku.

In Poland, during twenty years between the first and the second world war modern methods and remedies were created and applied to save the society from biological extermination caused by the epidemics of acute infectious diseases that existed in the larger areas of the country and other diseases that could threaten the society when brought from abroad. Poland regained its independence in 1918 as a country completely destroyed by war and encompassed three partitioned sectors that differed in wealth, class consciousness, various infrastructure, legislation, epidemiological situation of infectious diseases and threats spreading from abroad. Infectious diseases such as typhus fever, typhoid fever, cholera, smallpox, dysentery and other diseases spreading by alimentary tracts caused the greatest epidemiological problem. The considerable number of smallpox cases was noted in 1920-1922. In the thirties only individual cases occurred. Since 1934 no fatal cases of smallpox were registered. In 1919, in Poland 219,688 cases and 18,641 typhus fever deaths were registered. Between 1930 and 1939 the annual number of cases ranged from 2000 to 4000. In Poland each year between the first and the second world war typhoid fever was a serious sanitary problem. The largest outbreak of dysentery occurred in Poland in 1920-1921 and comprised 64,000 cases, among them 10,000 deaths. Acute childhood diseases such as scarlet fever and diphtheria were in Poland endemic. Number of registered cases was variable.

Mercury poisoning with tooth loss: an 1813 case report.

During the War of 1812, the medical surgeon and his "mate" were responsible for the soldiers' dental care; there were no dentists employed by the United States Army. Official reports of dental treatment are, therefore, rare.

[Two epidemic diseases in Blois region in the 19th century]. / Deux epidemies en Blesois au XIX siecle et leur traitement pharmacologique.

Lathyrism is an ancient neurological disorder caused in human by food contamination with seeds of Lathyrus species. Based on new documents, this paper describes the exact sanitary actions done in the discrict of Blois in 1829. Official reports due to Dr. Desparanches, M.D., describe clinical cases, causes of the disease and its extension in the population. A bacterial dysentry occured mostly in children and poor families in the summer of 1858 in the same district. An official report due to Dr. Monneau, M.D., describes the extension and possible causes of the diseases. In the two reports, sucessful pharmaceutical treatments and public sanitary measures are described.

Cure for empire: the 'Conquer-Russia-Pill', pharmaceutical manufacturers, and the making of patriotic Japanese, 1904-45.

Seirogan, a popular anti-diarrhoeal pill, is arguably one of the most successful pharmaceutical products of modern Japan. What is less known is that the Japanese army initially developed Seirogan during the Russo-Japanese War as the 'Conquer-Russia-Pill', which was later marketed to the public by private manufacturers. Previous scholars have emphasised the top­down governmental method of mobilising private sectors to manipulate public opinion for the cause of external imperialist expansion and domestic stability during wartime Japan. But the matrix that the Conquer-Russia-Pill allows us to glimpse is an inverted power relation among the state, commercial sectors, and imperial citizens. While the Japanese government remained indifferent if not hostile to jingoistic pharmaceutical manufacturers who could easily disrupt international relations, pharmaceutical companies quickly recognised and exploited the opportunities that the Conquer-Russia-Pill and its symbolism provided under the banner of the empire. In turn, Japanese consumers reacted to commercial sermons carefully anchored in patriotic and militaristic discourses and images by opening their wallets. In other words, the popularity of the Conquer-Russia-Pill was a culmination of the convergence of a governmental initiative to enhance military capabilities, the commercial ingenuity of pharmaceutical manufacturers, and a consumer response to patriotic exhortations.