At the origins of the bacteriological debate, many paths cross medical and veterinary history all over Europe. Reading the Annali Universali di Medicina, an Italian Journal published in Milan between 1817 and 1888, allow us to underline the perceived social role of Hygiene, the newborn medical specialty interpreting epidemics and zoonosis as consequences of wrongful economical, social and health politicies. In the issues of Annali printed just before the unity of Italy, anthrax can be assumed as a paradigmatic model to reconstruct the scientific and medical debate about aethiopathogenesis of infectious diseases crossing the nineteenth century; its reflections in the printed journals and magazines pages (we particularly refer to) provides interesting informations about the public perception of medical theories concernig the concept of contagion, the idea that infectious diseases can derive from a bodily poisoning, the theory of 'poisonous fields', according to which animals can contract anthrax by simply herding in high nitrogen content soils.Key words: Anthrax - Unification of Italy - Annali Universali di Medicina
The article is the first step of a research project aimed at investigating new perspectives and aspects of Morgagni's role and work. His activities as a medical examiner and forensic doctor are yet to be truly discovered. Manuscripts, written by Morgagni when he was a forensic expert for the Health Magistrate of Venice, currently preserved at the City Library in Forlì (Italy), shed light on a new aspect of his cultural background. As a forensic doctor, he also helped push an increase in "social medicine" in Italy, when physicians began to collaborate with the administrative and political institutions in order to plan environmental and urban regulations to control air quality. While reading his reports, his contribution to the primordial medical Hygiene and Public Health emerges. Among his reports, the authors focused on the one concerning the Beatification of Gregorio Barbarigo, which clearly highlights his pathological approach, as well as his knowledge and application of embalming systems and mummiology. Moreover, this report could be considered as an issue in the history of paleopathology. ; Ovaj rad je prvi korak istraživačkog projekta kojemu je cilj istražiti nove perspektive i aspekte Morgagnijeve uloge i rada. Njegove aktivnosti kao medicinskog ispitivača i forenzičnog liječnika tek trebaju biti otkrivene. Rukopisi, koje je napisao Morgagni kada je bio forenzički stručnjak Zdravstvenog magistrata u Veneciji, a koji se trenutačno čuvaju u Gradskoj knjiž- nici u Forliju (Italija), osvjetljavaju novi aspekt njegove kulturne pozadine. Kao forenzički liječnik pomogao je i razvoju socijalne medicine u Italiji, kada su liječnici počeli surađivati s administrativnim i političkim institucijama pri planiranju okolišnih i urbanističkih propisa za kontrolu kvalitete zraka. Čitajući njegova izvješća, uočljiv je njegov doprinos prapočecima medicinske higijene i javnog zdravstva. Autori su se usredotočili na izvješće koje se odnosi na beatifikaciju Grgura Barbarige, a koje ističe njegov pristup u patologiji, kao i njegovo znanje i primjenu balzamičnih sustava i znanosti o mumijama. Štoviše, ovo bi se izvješće moglo smatrati bitnim u povijesti paleopatologije.
The article is the first step of a research project aimed at investigating new perspectives and aspects of Morgagni's role and work. His activities as a medical examiner and forensic doctor are yet to be truly discovered. Manuscripts, written by Morgagni when he was a forensic expert for the Health Magistrate of Venice, currently preserved at the City Library in Forlì (Italy), shed light on a new aspect of his cultural background. As a forensic doctor, he also helped push an increase in "social medicine" in Italy, when physicians began to collaborate with the administrative and political institutions in order to plan environmental and urban regulations to control air quality. While reading his reports, his contribution to the primordial medical Hygiene and Public Health emerges. Among his reports, the authors focused on the one concerning the Beatification of Gregorio Barbarigo, which clearly highlights his pathological approach, as well as his knowledge and application of embalming systems and mummiology. Moreover, this report could be considered as an issue in the history of paleopathology.
In Europe the influence spread in France, Great Britain, Italy and Spain, interfering on the battle-fields with the military operations during the First World War.The official communications of the health authorities worldwide gave certainty about the etiology of influenza, but from laboratories it was not always possible to isolate the famous Pfiffer bacillus. The Spanish flu hit different ages with a so-called "W- trend": the two typically more susceptible age spikes were the children and the elderly, added by the healthy young adults.The first official preventive measures implemented in August 1918 included the notification need of suspected cases, and the surveillance of communities such as schools, barracks and boarding schools.The identification of the ill through surveillance, voluntary and legally enforced quarantine, or isolation had also permitted to limit Sanish flu widespread.In order to not impress the public opinion, moreover, several hygiene local offices refused to provide the numbers of people affected and deads.The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more than 50 million people worldwide.Virological and bacteriological analysis of preserved samples of infected soldiers who died in 1918 during the pandemic period is a main step in order to better understand and prepare to future pandemics.
Fin dai tempi antichi, il rimedio più frequentemente prescritto per il trattamento della tubercolosi era una permanenza in un clima temperato. Dalla metà del XIX secolo alla metà del XX, l'Europa ha visto lo sviluppo di sanatori, dove i pazienti hanno potuto beneficiare di passeggiate all'aria aperta, esercizio fisico e una dieta equilibrata. Inoltre, l'istituzionalizzazione e l'isolamento dei pazienti ritenuti contagiosi rimane una delle misure più efficaci per il controllo di questo tipo di infezione.Il primo sanatorio aperto in Germania nel 1854, mentre in Italia i primi esperimenti furono condotti all'inizio del 20 ° secolo. A quel tempo, era opinione diffusa in Italia che la tubercolosi polmonare potesse migliorare in un clima marino. Al contrario, lo studioso Biagio Castaldi ha descritto gli effetti salubri dell'aria di montagna e ha documentato una minore incidenza di tubercolosi tra le popolazioni montane, che ha sostenuto l'ipotesi di una predisposizione ereditaria alla malattia. Nel 1898 furono fondati diversi comitati locali (Siena, Pisa, Padova) per combattere la tubercolosi. L'anno seguente, questi hanno dato origine alla Lega Italiana (Lega Italiana) con il patrocinio del Re d'Italia, che ha contribuito a promuovere l'intervento statale nella costruzione di sanatori.The pioneer of the institution of dedicated facilities for the treatment of tuberculosis was Edoardo Maragliano in Genoa in 1896. A few years later, in 1900, the first specialised hospital, with a capacity of 100 beds, was built in Budrio in a non-mountainous area, the aim being to treat patients within their habitual climatic environment. In the following years, institutes were built in Bologna, Livorno, Rome, Turin and Venice. A large sanatorium for the treatment of working-class patients was constructed in Valtellina by the fascist government at the beginning of the century, in the wake of studies by Eugenio Morelli on the climatic conditions of the pine woods in Sortenna di Sondalo, which he deemed to be ideal. In December 1916, the Italian Red Cross inaugurated the first military sanatorium in the "Luigi Merello" maritime hospice in Bergeggi (SV) to treat soldiers affected by curable tuberculosis. In 1919, a specific law mandated a 10-fold increase in funding for the construction of dispensaries and sanatoria. As a result, the Provincial Anti-tuberculosis Committees were transformed into Consortiums of municipal and provincial authorities and anti-TB associations, with the aim of coordinating the action to be undertaken. In 1927, the constitution of an Anti-tuberculosis Consortium in every province became a legal obligation.Nonostante questa crescita delle misure sociali e sanitarie, la tubercolosi in Italia ha continuato a costituire un grave problema di salute pubblica fino all'avvento degli antibiotici negli anni '50. Fino a quel momento, il sanatorio ha svolto un ruolo di primo piano nel trattamento della tubercolosi in Italia, come nel resto d'Europa.
