ABSTRACT
Resumen El desarrollo de la pandemia de la covid-19 ha motivado un renovado interés por la gripe de 1918-1919 para buscar elementos que facilitaran la comprensión de la experiencia presente, pero también como oportunidad para reevaluar la grave crisis sanitaria del siglo XX a la luz de lo que estamos viviendo. En este contexto y con ese objetivo se inserta esta reflexión histórica sobre estos dos fenómenos pandémicos, que muestra los paralelismos existentes y la necesidad de una toma de conciencia de que nuestro modelo de sociedad está en crisis y se requiere una transformación profunda.
Abstract The rise of the covid-19 pandemic has led to renewed interest in the 1918-1919 influenza in search of aspects that might help us understand the current situation, but also as an opportunity to re-evaluate the serious twentieth-century health crisis in light of what we are experiencing now. In this context and with that goal, this historical reflection shows the parallels that exist and the need for a realization that our model of society is undergoing a crisis and requires profound transformation.
Subject(s)
Humans , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Influenza, Human/history , Pandemics/history , COVID-19/history , Influenza Vaccines/history , Hygiene/history , Denial, Psychological , World War I , Economics , Influenza, Human/prevention & control , Influenza, Human/transmission , Influenza, Human/epidemiology , COVID-19 Vaccines/history , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19/transmission , COVID-19/epidemiology , Military Personnel/historyABSTRACT
En este artículo, estudiamos la elaboración de dos métodos para combatir la gripe española o influenza en la Argentina: el suero y la vacuna. Las investigaciones sobre el agente etiológico y la elaboración de estos instrumentos se llevaron a cabo en el Instituto Bacterioló-gico, institución estatal que al momento en que ingresó y se expandió la enfermedad estaba dirigida por el médico bohemio Rudolf Kraus y junto a él trabajaba una parte de la élite médica porteña y extranjera. Realizamos un análisis de las metodologías que se utilizaron tanto para la elaboración como en las pruebas que se desarrollaron a lo largo de los años 1918 y 1919. Consideramos que el mismo Estado que permitió y alentó la elaboración de ambos métodos de prevención y de cura, en especial de la vacuna, también fue un factor que, por su misma dinámica, impidió que se llevaran adelante las pruebas para validarla y aplicarla. El estudio se llevó a cabo a partir de diversas fuentes, como documentación estatal, artículos científicos y notas periodísticas, desde un análisis hermenéutico (AU)
Subject(s)
Humans , History, 20th Century , Influenza Pandemic, 1918-1919/history , Influenza Pandemic, 1918-1919/prevention & control , Influenza Vaccines/history , Academies and Institutes/history , ArgentinaABSTRACT
En el marco de la renovada actualidad alcanzada por la pandemia de gripe de 1918-1919 en los últimos años y del protagonismo logrado por los estudios que analizan el proceso de innovación en Medicina, el presente trabajo analiza el papel representado por sueros y vacunas los nuevos recursos de la ciencia médica del momento en la lucha contra la gripe de 1918-1919. El estudio pone de relieve su dependencia de los factores científicos, sociales, económicos y profesionales que concurrieron, y muestra también las principales consecuencias derivadas de la puesta a punto y uso de los citados recursos terapéuticos y profilácticos (AU)
Against the background of the renewed interest aroused in recent years by the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, and the leading role now played by research analysing the process of innovation in medicine, this paper assesses the role played by serums and vaccines the new resources of the medical science of the time in the fight against the influenza outbreak of 1918-1919. The paper highlights the dependence on combined scientific, social, economic and professional factors, and also shows the main consequences arising from the fine-tuning and implementation of these therapeutic and prophylactic resources (AU)
Subject(s)
Humans , History, 20th Century , Disease Outbreaks/economics , Disease Outbreaks/history , Influenza Vaccines/economics , Influenza Vaccines/history , Influenza, Human/economics , Influenza, Human/ethnology , Influenza, Human/history , Influenza, Human/psychology , Public Health/economics , Public Health/education , Public Health/history , Socioeconomic Factors , Public Health Practice/economics , Public Health Practice/history , Serum/physiology , Social Conditions/economics , Social Conditions/history , Spain/ethnology , Vaccines/economics , Vaccines/historyABSTRACT
The article "Pandemic influenza in Korea with special references to its etiology," published in JAMA in April, 1919 by Dr. Frank William Schofield, is a valuable material reflecting the influenza pandemic situation in 1918 in Korea. It contains the case reports of influenza infected patients and the results of the bacteriological experiments. Dr. Schofield worked as a bacteriology professor in Severance Union Medical College in Seoul from 1916 to 1920. His academic activities are lesser-known than the role of contributor of Korean independent movement. However, he was a remarkable veterinarian and scientist. According to Dr. Schofield, the number of Influenza infected population in Korea in 1918 was supposed to be 4,000,000 to 8,000,000, which corresponds with other resources(6.7 per 1,000 in Gangwon province). Considering the cases which were not registered as influenza infection by misdiagnosis of pneumonia complication the sum should be higher. However, the estimated crude influenza death rate from the reports by the Japanese colonial government was only 2.38(per 1,000). Dr. Schofield and his colleague tried to culture "Pfeiffer Bacillus" from the sputum and blood specimens of patients showing typical influenza symptoms. The bacterium was mistakenly considered as the influenza agent till the virological nature of influenza was discovered in the 1930s. From the results of his study he seemed to agree that "filterable virus" was the influenza agent and the secondary infection of the bacillus caused respiratory symptoms. He also reported on the influenza vaccination during the epidemics. Dr. Schofield's article confirms that the damage caused by the influenza outbreak in Korea was as great as in other Asian countries or even worse. It also gives information about the researches and education on the etiology and vaccination of influenza based on the germ theory in the medical colleges in Korea, which adopted the western medical educational system in the early 20th century.