Enfermedades y terremotos en la Granada del siglo XVIII / Diseases and earthquakes in eighteenth-century Granada

El terremoto de Lisboa de 1755 generó una considerable destrucción en numerosas villas y ciudades de la Península Ibérica. La sociedad se vio conmocionada por el desastre; era necesario comprender el fenómeno para intentar evitar, en la medida de lo posible, futuras destrucciones y actuar con agilidad para promover una pronta recuperación. En este sentido, vinculado con el debate sobre la formación de la Tierra tal y como se conocía en el momento, se desarrollaron numerosas teorías sobre la causa del fenómeno. Desde las posiciones religiosas se conminaba al arrepentimiento, mientras que una protociencia geoló-gica defendía el origen natural del terremoto y, por ende, concluía que era difícil de evitar. No obstante, pese a las disensiones en la comprensión de los seísmos se daba un cierto consenso sobre sus efectos. La destrucción física era más que evidente, pero estos daños urbanísticos parecían estar acompañados por numerosas enfermedades surgidas a raíz del terremoto y documentadas por los diversos poderes locales. Parto así de la obra del cirujano de Uxíjar, Joseph Aparicio Morata, para analizar las diversas formas en las que la medicina del siglo XVIII comprendió los daños que estos fenómenos generaban sobre la naturaleza humana. El mie-do desatado por el desastre podía alterar de tal forma las sustancias humanas que entre sus resultas los abortos, melancolías y delirios eran de esperar. Cuando la tierra se abría surgían de ella numerosos gases tóxicos que, una vez en la superficie, se disipaban e infectaban a las comunidades vecinas. Los efluvios liberados conectaban a su vez con fenómenos astrológicos por su carácter aéreo (AU)

Ahmadreza Djalali, MD, PhD is Dying.

Editor-in-Chief Note:Dr. Djalali is a well-known member of the international disaster medicine community. He is a man always with a smile and sincere in seeking the best for all mankind. His now extremely prolonged imprisonment without due process to allow him to defend himself represents one of the most profound inhumane acts on the globe. His torture and starvation are beyond comprehension for the international health and medicine community as well as all men and women. The pictures that accompany this editorial are published with proper permissions and have been authenticated as untouched from the originals.

Visualizing the History and Perspectives of Disaster Medicine: A Bibliometric Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the development of disaster medicine and to identify the main obstacles to improving disaster medicine research and application. METHODS: A topic search strategy was used to search the Web of Science Core Collection database. The 100 articles with the highest local citation scores were selected for bibliometric analysis; summarizing informetric indicators; and preparing a historiography, themes network, and key word co-occurrence map. RESULTS: The 100 articles with the highest local citation scores were published from 1983 to 2013 in 9 countries, mainly in the United States. The most productive authors were Koenig and Rubinson. The lead research institution was Columbia University. The most commonly cited journal was the Annals of Emergency Medicine. The development of disaster medicine could be separated into 3 consecutive periods. All results indicate that the development of disaster medicine faces some obstacles that need to be addressed. CONCLUSIONS: Research works have provided a solid foundation for disaster medicine, but its development has been in a slow growth period for a long time. Obstacles to the development of disaster medicine include the lack of scientist communities, transdisciplinary research, innovative research perspectives, and continuous research. Future research should overcome these obstacles so as to make further advances in this field.

[Reflection on rescue and treatment of mass burn casualties in 21st century].

The rescue and treatment of mass burn casualties is a test for both the burn treatment level and the disaster emergency response ability of a country or a region. In recent years, burn disasters happened occasionally around the world despite of the improvement of safety level in production and the awareness of fire prevention. On one hand, mass burn casualty events caused catastrophic damages to human health. On the other hand, they also promoted the development of burn treatment and disaster medicine. This paper may provide some references for further improving the management of mass burn casualties in the future by reviewing several typical cases of burn disaster rescue and treatment in the world since the 21st century.

The German emergency and disaster medicine and management system-history and present.

As well for optimized emergency management in individual cases as for optimized mass medicine in disaster management, the principle of the medical doctors approaching the patient directly and timely, even close to the site of the incident, is a long-standing marker for quality of care and patient survival in Germany. Professional rescue and emergency forces, including medical services, are the "Golden Standard" of emergency management systems. Regulative laws, proper organization of resources, equipment, training and adequate delivery of medical measures are key factors in systematic approaches to manage emergencies and disasters alike and thus save lives. During disasters command, communication, coordination and cooperation are essential to cope with extreme situations, even more so in a globalized world. In this article, we describe the major historical milestones, the current state of the German system in emergency and disaster management and its integration into the broader European approach.

[Experience in health prevention work at the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant].

One of the main conditions for successful completion of liquidation tasks in the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclearpowerplant is of the swipe-effective sanitary and anti-epidemic (preventive) measures. The main directions of medical services in this area include the prevention of acute radiation injuries of personnel and distant effects of ionizing radiation, prevention of epidemics of acute intestinal, respiratory and other infections in the armedforces, pro-prevention of injuries, poisonings, accidents. Medical preventive measures were performed by the Medical Service, which took part in liquidation of consequences of military units, the specialists of the Operational Group of Civil Defense, the sanitary-epidemiological units and institutions formed the Belarusian, Kiev and Odessa Military District. Sanitary-epidemiological (preventive) activities carried out during the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, provided the sanitary-epidemiological well-being of the troops, which allowed to perform their tasks.

Disaster medicine: genealogy of a concept.

This paper evaluates disaster medicine from a historical perspective that facilitates the understanding of its present. Today, disaster medicine and humanitarian medicine are inextricably linked and the terms are sometimes used synonymously. An in-depth analysis of an extensive body of concrete empirical cases from various sources (i.e. archival records) reveals, however, that they have not always been the same. A genealogical, history-of-knowledge approach demonstrates that the concept of disaster medicine emerged in the early 20th century in Switzerland in the context of industrialization. Even though it gained important impetus during the First World War, the concept was informed by the experiences of forensic physicians in technological disasters such as mining explosions. The Cold War constituted the historical constellation in which disaster medicine was developed in West Germany during the 1960s and 1970s in a way that was paradigmatic for other Western European countries. At the same time, it was contested there in an unusual, historically unique way. Although focusing on a Western European context, this paper explores how medical interventions in disasters were international events and how the practice of disaster medicine was developed and "trained" through being applied in the Global South. It demonstrates the historicity of disaster medicine's political character and of the controversies generated by its involvement in civil and military operations. Throughout the 20th century, the political nature and military involvement of disaster medicine resulted in a number of ethical and practical issues, which are similar to the challenges facing humanitarian medicine today. The exploration of disaster medicine's past can therefore open up critical interventions in humanitarian medicine's present.

[Experience in provision of medical services to earthquake victims in Armenia in 1988].

The most devastating catastrophe in the USSR was the Armenian earthquake occurred on 7th December 1988. The city of Leninakan and towns of Kirovokan, Spitak (the epicenter), Stepanovan were destroyed by the earthquake with a magnitude 10. Up to 25 542 people have died, more than 500 000 were homeless and 39 795 were rescued. Medical service of the Ministry of Defence of the USSR took part in rescue work. Medical service units finished their rescue work on 31st December after results of work were summed up. Lethality rate was an index of successful rescue work of the unit. Only 6% of injured rescued by the medical unit have died, meanwhile 40%-50% of injured have died in Erevan hospitals. Mortality rate in patients with crush syndrome was 8.9% (according to other authors--30-75%). 75 injured remained in hospital, 25 injured were evacuated to central military hospitals for reconstructive plastic surgery. Officers of the medical unit, embodied from the main and central hospitals, successfully completed the task and received experience in provision of medical services to earthquake victims.

Una tesis pionera en la Medicina de Urgencias y Emergencias española: “Alcance de la cirujía [sic]de urgencias en las casas de socorro” (1907) / Pioneer 1907 doctoral thesis on emergency medicine in Spain: “The scope of emergency

Este artículo descubre, comenta y revisa la tesis doctoral defendida por el doctor Manuel Pascual Alonso en 1907. En ella se expone el estado material e instrumental, agentes médicos implicados y las prácticas quirúrgicas de alcance en las casas de socorro, verdaderos antecedentes de los servicios médicos de urgencia actuales. Tal tesispionera es un hallazgo relevante e iluminativo para la medicina española de urgencias y emergencias y que pone de manifiesto, a partir de este estudio retrospectivo, una valiosa y multisecular tradición médica de urgencias en España desconsiderada hasta ahora (AU)

This review and commentary of the doctoral thesis defended by Dr. Manuel Pascual Alonso in 1907, summarizes this pioneering author’s account of the material and instrumental conditions in the emergency care facilities known as casas de socorro (first-aid or rescue facilities), the true forerunners of today’s emergency health services. Dr. Pascual describes physician staffing and surgical practices in these centers. The thesis sheds light on the history of Spanish emergency medicine, revealing that Spain has a worthy, centuries-long tradition of emergency medical practice that has been underappreciated until now (AU)

[The experience of 183 medical special forces of the Volga-Urals Military District in the elimination of the health effects of the emergency in the Republic of Indonesia].

The article is based on personal experience of the authors with assistance in the aftermath of the tsunami in the Republic of Indonesia, which killed about 120 thousand (December 26, 2004 at 255 km to the west coast of Sumatra). In the disaster area were sent to 183 medical detachments for special purposes of the Volga-Urals Military District, reinforced brigade of specialized medical care of military medical institutions under the central government and the Moscow Military District. As the authors noted, in the aftermath of a disaster like the tsunami, at first put forward preventive measures among displaced persons. The experience gained by the Medical Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the aftermath of natural disaster in the Republic of Indonesia, is used to plan future humanitarian operations abroad with the assistance of military medical specialists from Russia.

[Service for Disaster Medicine of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation at the present stage].

The basic documents of the history of service Disaster Medicine in the USSR and the Armed Forces of the country, employed in this branch of medical terminology, classification of emergency situations are presented. The problem of Disaster Medicine Service of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation at the present stage, the levels of its operations and readiness, as well as the structure and objectives of the medical detachment for special purposes are considered. The involvement of service in peacekeeping operations and medical support of local armed conflicts are assessed.

Cuban medical cooperation in Haiti: one of the world's best-kept secrets.

This article analyzes Cuba's medical role in Haiti since Hurricane Georges in 1998, with particular emphasis on the Cuban government's response to the 2010 earthquake. The article examines two central themes. First, it assesses the enormous impact on public health that Cuba has made since 1998, and second, it provides a comparative analysis of Cuba's medical role since the earthquake.