Pseudomonas aeruginosa: una bella oportunista

Las bacterias son infinitamente más antiguas que el hombre y se reproducen más rápido, cada quince minutos y en una hora tienen cuatro generaciones, mientras que el hombre necesita un siglo para ello, de modo que en la larga existencia bacteriana somos apenas un minúsculo accidente. Toda la maravillosa maquinaria reunida en una sola bacteria de la especie Pseudomonas aeruginosa no fue planeada contra nosotros, incluyendo señales de quorum, bombas de expulsión, integrones, biofilm y piocinas, ya presentes en su vida natural o planctónica. Su adaptación a la vida nosocomial forzó a estudiarla y la organización de sus múltiples capacidades hace plantear que en su vida hay un propósito, una suerte de "inteligencia bacteriana" en contraposición a la tesis de Jacques Monod que estima la vida en este planeta como fruto del azar y de la necesidad.

Bacteria are infinitely older tan man and reproduce faster, every fifteen minutes and in one hour they have four generations, while man needs a century for have the same, so that in the long bacterial existence we are just a tiny accident. All the wonderful machinery assembled in a single bacterium of the species Pseudomonas aeruginosa it was not planned against us, including quorum sensing, efflux pumps, integrons, biofilm and pyocins, already presents in their natural or planktonic life. Her adaptation to hospital life forced to study this wonderful creature, and the organization of such multiple capacities suggests the existence of a vital purpose, a kind of bacterial intelligence, contrary to Jacques Monod's thesis, which estimate life in this planet as the result of chance and necessity.

Premios Nobel Chain y Schatz evalúan la producción de penicilina en Chile en los años sesenta

En los años sesenta el antiguo Instituto Bacteriológico de Chile obtuvo de la Universidad de Chile la ayuda de Albert Schatz, descubridor de la estreptomicina, para mejorar su producción de penicilina. Esta asesoría no fue aprovechada y la situación empeoró, hasta la llegada de Mario Miranda como Director, quien trajo a Sir Ernst Chain, Premio Nobel por el desarrollo de la penicilina, para que hiciese una evaluación de la planta de producción antes de decidir su cierre. El autor de estas líneas, quien puso fin a la producción en 1973, relata las visitas y las conclusiones de ambos asesores.

In the sixties the ancient Bacteriological Institute of Chile obtained from the University of Chile the transfer of Albert Schatz, discoverer of streptomycin, to improve its penicillin production. This advisory was wasted and the situation worsened until the arrival of Mario Miranda as the new Director, who brought Sir Ernst Chain, Nobel Prize for the development of penicillin, to make an evaluation of the production plant before deciding to continue or close it. The author of these lines, who ended production in 1973, recounts the visits and the conclusions of both advisors.

La batalla decisiva contra la fiebre tifoidea en Santiago de Chile en el siglo XX

Hasta 1983, cuando alcanzaba la increíble tasa de 118 casos por 100.000 habitantes, la fiebre tifoidea era la peor amenaza infecciosa en Santiago, Chile, ciudad que figuraba junto a Ciudad de México, El Cairo y Bombay, como una de las con mayor endemia en el mundo. El Ministerio de Salud respondió formando el Comité de Tifoidea de Chile, con participación de expertos nacionales y del grupo de Myron Levine, de la Universidad de Maryland, que llevó a cabo ingeniosas investigaciones, culpando al río Mapocho, cuyas aguas contaminadas con Salmonella typhi regaban los predios agrícolas vecinos, conformando así un ciclo largo de infección. Las vacunas antitíficas ensayadas (oral Ty21a atenuada y polisacárido capsular Vi inyectable) no mostraron eficacia, los portadores crónicos no se trataron, pero una campaña sanitaria a través de la televisión contribuyó decisivamente a mejorar los hábitos higiénicos de la población, fortalecida por el pánico que causó la llegada del cólera en 1991, y la fiebre tifoidea prácticamente desapareció del escenario.

Until 1983, when reached the incredible frequency of 118 cases for 100.000 habitants, typhoid fever was the worst infectious threat in Santiago, Chile, city that appeared next to Mexico City, Cairo and Bombay, as one of the most endemic in the world. The Ministry of Health responded with the creation of The Chilean Typhoid Committee, with the participation of national experts and Myron Levine's group, which carried out ingenious investigations blaming the Mapocho River, whose waters contaminated with Salmonella typhi irrigated the neighboring farms, thus conforming a long cycle of infection. Typhoid vaccines tested (strain Ty 21a oral and Vi capsular polysaccharide) did not show efficacy, chronic carriers were not treated, but a health campaign on television made a decisive contribution to improving hygiene habits of the population, strengthened by the panic caused by the arrival of cholera in 1991, and typhoid fever practically disappeared from the stage.

[The Abbe Molina, the smallpox and also Darwin]. / El abate Molina, la viruela y también Darwin.

The Chilean Abbe Ignacio Molina (1740-1829) developed a brilliant career as naturalist in the University of Bologna, where he arrived when the Jesuit Order was expelled from the Spanish colonies in 1767, until he was accused of heresy because some ideas about evolution expressed in one of his late works, at the same time with Lamarck and 44 years before Darwin. In his youth Molina was affected in a severe way by smallpox, leaving us in two poems a vivid story of his suffering, not only by the disease itself but also for the useless therapeutic measures, some disagreeable, like enemas; other injurious, as bleeding and topic vinegar of the four thieves. A handful of the more significant verses from the two Latin Elegies "De peste variolarum" and "De peste variolis vulgo dicta" is analyzed: its literary value is scarce, its reading is bored, and its real merit only historic.

[About how was gestated the sewerage in Santiago de Chile]. / De cómo se gestó el alcantarillado de Santiago de Chile.

It is possible to estimate as the skeleton for the body of one future sewerage in Santiago (Chile) the web of irrigation ditches designed for the "alarife" (a primitive architect) Gamboa in 1541. Along the three centuries of the colonial period, the ditches not only distributed water for the familial cultures, but also got away from the houses all kind of residues, not only organic, being a fountain of conflicts and fights between the neighbors, that multiple laws and warnings could not ever resolve. The water for drink was taken from the dirty Mapocho River, full of enteric bacteria, with the consequences of Salmonella and Shigella infections, being better but more expensive the water from the ravines near the city, transported on mules or horses. With the arrival of the Republic in 1810, the idea of a sewerage for Santiago similar to the Europeans was growing, and after one discussion and another, and after one project and another, its building started on 1905.

El abate Molina, la viruela... y también Darwin / The Abbe Molina, the smallpox and also Darwin

Resumen Nuestro Abate Molina, nacido en Talca en 1740, debió hacer toda su notable carrera de naturalista en la Universidad de Bolonia, al ser expulsada de Chile la Orden Jesuita en 1767. En su juventud contrajo la viruela en 1761, enfermedad que lo tuvo a las puertas de la muerte, debiendo sufrir tanto por el virus como por los médicos y sus crueles e inútiles tratamientos, que incluyeron sangrías, enemas y "vinagre de los cuatro ladrones", de todo lo cual ha dejado constancia en dos "Elegías Latinas de la Viruela", de las cuales comentamos un puñado de versos de escaso valor literario pero de alto interés histórico. En una de sus últimas publicaciones esbozó algunas ideas evolucionistas, antecediendo en 44 años a la teoría de Darwin, siendo acusado de herejía y sometido a un juicio religioso que puso prácticamente fin a su carrera.

Abstract The Chilean Abbe Ignacio Molina (1740-1829) developed a brilliant career as naturalist in the University of Bologna, where he arrived when the Jesuit Order was expelled from the Spanish colonies in 1767, until he was accused of heresy because some ideas about evolution expressed in one of his late works, at the same time with Lamarck and 44 years before Darwin. In his youth Molina was affected in a severe way by smallpox, leaving us in two poems a vivid story of his suffering, not only by the disease itself but also for the useless therapeutic measures, some disagreeable, like enemas; other injurious, as bleeding and topic vinegar of the four thieves. A handful of the more significant verses from the two Latin Elegies "De peste variolarum" and "De peste variolis vulgo dicta" is analyzed: its literary value is scarce, its reading is bored, and its real merit only historic.

De cómo se gestó el alcantarillado de Santiago de Chile / About how was gestated the sewerage in Santiago de Chile

Resumen Puede considerarse que la red de acequias, diseñada por el alarife Gamboa en 1541 junto con el plano de los solares de la recién fundada ciudad de Santiago, fue el esqueleto que al correr de los siglos llevaría a la construcción de un alcantarillado. Durante el período colonial estas acequias, destinadas a aportar agua a las chacras, servirían para llevarse los desechos, no sólo orgánicos, sino de todo tipo, generando abusos y litigios entre los vecinos, que se intentaba controlar con múltiples leyes y reglamentos. El agua para beber, extraída del río Mapocho, era nauseabunda y fuente de infecciones entéricas, siendo mejor -y más cara- la acarreada desde las quebradas cordilleranas, como la de Ramón. Con el advenimiento de la República en el siglo XIX nació la preocupación por tener una estructura sanitaria similar a la europea, culminando con la idea de tener una red de alcantarillado, cuya construcción se iniciaría recién en 1905, luego de una larga discusión de varios proyectos.

Abstract It is possible to estimate as the skeleton for the body of one future sewerage in Santiago (Chile) the web of irrigation ditches designed for the "alarife" (a primitive architect) Gamboa in 1541. Along the three centuries of the colonial period, the ditches not only distributed water for the familial cultures, but also got away from the houses all kind of residues, not only organic, being a fountain of conflicts and fights between the neighbors, that multiple laws and warnings could not ever resolve. The water for drink was taken from the dirty Mapocho River, full of enteric bacteria, with the consequences of Salmonella and Shigella infections, being better but more expensive the water from the ravines near the city, transported on mules or horses. With the arrival of the Republic in 1810, the idea of a sewerage for Santiago similar to the Europeans was growing, and after one discussion and another, and after one project and another, its building started on 1905.

Simón Bolívar y las cantáridas / Simon Bolivar and the cantharides

Simon Bolivar, The Liberator, did not trust medical care and if he ever requested a doctor, it seems to have been mainly politically motivated. Unfortunately his fears seem to have been correct as his death was accelerated by Dr. Revenand, a man whose medical title is yet under discussion, who applied an extract of cantharides, a beetle know as "the spanish fly", employed generally as an aphrodisiac, over Bolivar's neck region. According to popular belief of the time, cantharidin, the insect's active principle reduced "the excess of humours", such as cerebrospinal fluid, plasma, "pituita" and others. Cantharidin has severe adverse effects and was for sure the origin of great suffering for many unfortunate patients in the past.(AU)