[Between 100 and 200 years before the microbiome ]. / Cent à deux cents ans avant le microbiome

Before the era of microbiote, our ancestors patiently discovered, described and cultivated pathogens, including those responsible for dermatoses. The very well known ectoparasites were represented in the earliest books on cutaneous diseases at the end of XVIII(th) century and the first half of the XIX(th) century. Fungi were discovered in the 1840s, rapidly followed by numerous bacteria, including those causing tuberculosis and lepra. This article is illustrated by images that often showed for the first time parasites and bacteria in books dedicated to cutaneous diseases. Engravings and photographs from the books of Willan, Rayer and Hardy show accurate images of pathogens. Microscopic images can also be found in the textbooks of Simon, Leloir, Sabouraud, Unna and many others. Darier himself believed that "Darier's disease" was due to a parasite, which explains why he named his disease "Vegetant follicular psorospermosis".

Precursores de la cirugía dermatológica española / Pioneers of spanish dermatologic surgery

Aun antes del nacimiento de la Dermatología como especialidad a principios del siglo XIX, la mayoría de las lesiones cutáneas y dermatosis eran materia de los cirujanos más que de los médicos. Después de la unificación de la Medicina y de la Cirugía, y del nacimiento de la Dermatología como especialidad moderna, esta relación se fue desdibujando y los dermatólogos españoles se aproximaron más a la Medicina que a la Cirugía. Las mejoras en la técnica quirúrgica, en la antisepsia y la asepsia, el nacimiento y difusión de la anestesia y el mayor interés en los estudios micrográficos llevaron a la recuperación, casi de novo, de esta vieja tradición quirúrgica en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX. En España, no se puede hablar de una auténtica «cirugía dermatológica» hasta el primer tercio del siglo XX, cuyos principales exponentes fueron Enrique Álvarez Sainz de Aja y Vicente Gimeno. El primero de ellos fue el mejor práctico de la incipiente cirugía dermatológica que basaba en su experiencia previa en Cirugía General y Obstetricia. El segundo nos dejó un interesante opúsculo de cirugía dermatológica, publicado en 1923 y que fue el texto de su discurso de recepción en la Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (AU)

Even before dermatology was born as a specialty at the beginning of the 19th century, most skin lesions and dermatoses tended to be treated by surgeons rather than physicians. After medicine and surgery were unified into a single discipline and dermatology emerged as a modern specialty, this relationship became blurred and Spanish dermatologists leaned more towards medicine than surgery. Then improvements in surgical techniques, knowledge of antiseptic and aseptic procedures, the development and introduction of anesthesia, and the greater interest in micrographic approaches led to the rediscovery and almost complete rebirth of this old surgical tradition in the second half of the 19th century. In Spain, dermatologic surgery as such did not really exist until the first third of the 20th century, when Enrique Álvarez Sainz de Aja and Vicente Gimeno emerged as the main exponents of this discipline. Of these 2, Álvarez Sainz de Aja-drawing on his previous experience as a general surgeon and obstetrician-was the better practitioner of the incipient dermatologic surgery. The other, Gimeno, wrote an interesting booklet on dermatologic surgery that was published in 1923 and that formed the basis of his inaugural speech to the Spanish Royal National Academy of Medicine (AU)

Presente y futuro de la terapia biológica en Dermatología / Present and future of biologic therapy in dermatology

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Museo Olavide (I): historia / Olavide Museum (I): history

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Paleodermatoses: lessons learned from mummies.

Mummies, the preserved remains of living beings from former times, bear witness across millennia to the maladies plaguing humankind. Disease, older than humanity, is better understood when examined in the context of history. Paleopathology, literally meaning "ancient suffering", is the study of disease through evaluation of ancient remains. This area of increasing medical interest offers insights into the management of public health issues and disease epidemiology. This article provides an introduction and overview to paleodermatology, the branch of dermatology concerned with the evaluation of diseases associated with the integument by examination of ancient human remains. Mummy sources, how they were made and used throughout history, and the multidisciplinary approach used to study skin diseases found in mummies is briefly described. Despite pervasive pseudopathology, a remarkable array of diseases are well substantiated in the paleorecord, including infectious, heritable, nutritional, hormonal, acquired, iatrogenic, and neoplastic disorders. Legitimate ethical concerns have been raised in the use of human remains for any purpose, with the lack of informed consent eliciting accusations of exploitation. While these studies are undertaken with certain risks, such as the acquisition of potentially dangerous or extinct infections, paleodermatology offers a unique and historical perspective on the afflictions of the skin and the way of all flesh.

[The "rade"disease--a Norwegian tragedy]. / Radesyken--en norsk tragedie.

The rade disease (radesyken) was wide-spread particularly in southwestern Norway during the 18th and 19th centuries. The fight against this disease prepared the grounds for the public health services in this country. It was suggested that radesyke was a manifestation of syphilis, although with some uncommon epidemiological and clinical features. This paper reminds of the sufferings that this medical disaster inflicted on thousands of patients of all age groups during the 150 years of its presence in Norway. The clinical picture of radesyke is presented based on descriptions of 63 patients treated by Dr. Hendrich Deegen at the radesyke hospital in Flekkefjord in the years 1776-78. Finally, a brief reference is made to probable causes of the particular manifestations of this disease in Norway during that period.

[The physician Hendrich Deegen and the Rade Hospital in Flekkefjord]. / Chirurgus Hendrich Deegen og radesykehuset i Flekkefjord.

The physician Hendrich Deegen (1742-92) took the initiative for, was the architect of, and organised the building of a hospital for sufferers of radesyge in Flekkefjord, a small town in Norway, in 1776. He was also the hospital's first doctor. By describing his achievements at the hospital and his personal life in this town, this paper provides a sketch of a physician's daily life in late 18th century Norway.

[Thoughts about the "rade" disease in Norway--"it takes its victims slowly"]. / Tanker om radesyken i Norge--"Den hentaerer sine Offere langsomt"

Radesyge first appeared in south-western Norway in the middle of the 18th century; the endemic that followed was to haunt the region for close to one hundred years. The disease was characterized by severe wounds, often with bone decomposition. The face was frequently involved, causing striking malformations. Radesyge was at the time considered a serious threat to society and was the subject of intense public debate over several decades. Core components of the modern health care system in Norway can trace their origin to countermeasures taken to combat the spread of this disease. In this article, the author argues that rather than viewing radesyge as an outbreak of tertiary syphilis, which has been the custom for the last hundred years, it should, for scholarly purposes, be seen as a separate event. This is the only way to properly grasp the impact of the endemic on patients, society, politics and science at the time.

Occipital lesions: a possible cost of cradleboards.

This examination of a Mimbres-Mogollon pueblo skeletal sample reveals a surprising percentage of individuals with occipital lesions. Each lesion is located in the approximate center of the squama immediately superior to the external occipital protuberance. Notably, no child over the age of 1 year exhibits a lesion that would have been active at the time of death, but a number of older children and adults exhibit evidence of healed lesions in this same area on the occipital. The restricted nature of these lesions, in terms of both their locations and ages of those actively affected, suggests that the use of cradleboards may have been at least a contributing, if not initiatory, factor in their creation. Specifically, this study suggests that the pressure and friction of an infant's head against a cradleboard may have 1) produced ischemic ulcers, 2) produced the conditions favorable for bacterial infections such as impetigo or carbuncles, or 3) complicated the treatment of other infections appearing on the back of the scalp.

Erythema migrans: a chronicle.

Arvid Afzelius first described and named erythema migrans (EM), a clinical entity that he assumed to be caused by an agent transmitted by the bite of a tick (Ixodes reduvius). Certain neurologic, cutaneous, and other syndromes observed in Europe were recognized in the 1920s and 1930s to be disabling sequelae of EM. In the 1940s and 1950s the effectiveness of penicillin as therapy for EM was demonstrated. In 1968 the first patient with EM and neurologic sequelae in North America benefited from treatment with penicillin. In 1975, an epidemic arthropathy appeared in the area of Lyme, Connecticut. Despite resemblance to EM (the initial appearance of cutaneous lesions), the complex was called Lyme disease because of the occurrence of cardiac, neurologic, and arthritic sequelae. The vector of Lyme disease, Ixodes dammini--a tick that harbors agents that cause Lyme disease and babesiosis--was identified and characterized in 1979. The spirochete that causes Lyme disease was designated Borrelia burgdorferi. The North American and European species of spirochete and the clinical syndromes to which they are related are described.

[The significance of the People's Commissariat of Public Health of the RSFSR in the control of venereal and infectious skin diseases during the formation of Soviet public health]. / Znachenie Narkomzdrava RSFSR v bor'be s venericheskimi i zarazhnymi kozhnymi zabolevaniiami v period stanovleniia sovetskogo zdravookhraneniia.

The author follows up the history of activities aimed at sexually transmitted diseases control during the years of building up the Soviet public health. A significant reduction of the incidence rate of these diseases has been achieved as a result of this activity over the first decade of the Soviet power.

The plague called "shechin" in the Bible.

The Old Testament contains some of the earliest descriptions of skin disease. One example is the plague called "shechin," which probably consisted of several cutaneous disorders, all characterized by marked inflammation. Clinical highlights of these conditions are discussed on the basis of three case histories recounted in the Bible.