La Valentine disease: An outbreak of exanthematic typhus in Marseille, France, in 1810

BACKGROUND

Exanthematic typhus was highly frequent in the early 19th century among military troops and prisoners and at hospitals.

METHODS

Based on old reports, we describe an outbreak in a village, in Southern France, in 1810.

RESULTS

Twenty-eight cases were identified, over a period of 10 days following the death of the index case, in a soldier. Symptoms included notably persistent constant fever, myalgia and headaches, gastro-intestinal symptoms, prostration and stupor. Three patients suffered delirium and nine died (31.0%). Overall, symptoms persisted for 13-14 days. A total of 16 cases were secondary to contacts with the index case, and 10 cases were in house-hold contacts of secondary cases. Five familial clusters were described.

CONCLUSION

This data suggest that exanthematic typhus outbreaks among civilian populations also occurred outside the context of hospitals, in link with introduction of the disease by prisoners or soldiers.

The contributions of James Carmichael Smyth, Archibald Menzies and Robert Jackson to the treatment of typhus in royal naval vessels in the late 18th century

In late 18th century Britain, typhus fever plagued the mass mobilisation of soldiers and posed a significant challenge to physicians of the time. Epidemic typhus was spread through highly infectious faeces of infected lice and carried a high mortality in patients and healthcare staff alike. Physicians James Carmichael Smyth (1741-1821) and Archibald Menzies (1754-1842) theorized that typhus fever was caused by infection of human exhalation. They trialled the use of vapourised nitrous acid to fumigate patients, their clothes and their bedspace, with apparent success. Despite this, typhus fever continued to ravage deployments of soldiers into the early 19th century, stimulating the continuing evolution of the understanding of typhus and its treatment.

Typhus Disease in Iran during the Qajar Period (1725 to 1925 AD); a Brief Historical Review

Typhus is an acute febrile disease caused by a series of bacteria called Rickettsia that is transmitted by insects such as lice, fleas, and ticks. This disease has appeared several times in Iran and caused many casualties. There were some therapeutic measures taken by European physicians in Tehran and medical graduates of the Dar al-Fonun school or expatriates who had studied medical courses in Western countries, even though the taken steps were not enough. Due to the lack of sanitation and cleaning products after the outbreak of World War I in March 1917 and its synchronization with the swift outbreak of Typhus in 1918, heavy casualties followed. In this study, we first examine the prevalence of Typhus in the Qajar dynasty in Iran, and will then focus on the pathological importance of this disease history in Iran. After that, we will study the role of Typhus prevalence and World War I in the Persian famine, malnutrition, and food poverty. Moreover, we investigated the role that this great war had in strengthening the spread of this disease and its role in the death of many Iranian people.

Renewed Risk for Epidemic Typhus Related to War and Massive Population Displacement, Ukraine

Epidemic typhus, caused by Rickettsia prowazekii bacteria and transmitted through body lice (Pediculus humanus corporis), was a major public health threat in Eastern Europe as a consequence of World War II. In 2022, war and the resulting population displacement in Ukraine risks the return of this serious disease.

[A biography of infectious diseases: Hans Zinsser and his Rats, Lice and History]

Hans Zinsser, a well-known bacteriologist and immunologist in the United States in the early 20th century, made great advancement in the research of pathogen of typhus and its vaccine, with the epidemic typhus renamed after him. His masterpiece, Rats, Lice and History, teased out the co-evolutionary process of infectious diseases and their related organisms, focusing on specific cases and the development history of typhus. In this sense, he revealed the tremendous impact of infectious diseases on human history. He examined microorganisms and humans equally rather than simply from a human point of view. He analysed the pathological features of infectious diseases and provided professional insights into historical events of infectious diseases, such as the origin of syphilis and the plague of Athens, based on sufficient citations and references. He also advocated interpreting the history of infectious diseases with a holistic insight of history. His book, Rats, Lice and History, has been reprinted many times after its first publication, driving the following scholars to put the history of infectious diseases into a grand background of human development, enhancing the comprehension of ecology and politics and promoting the development of research in the history of diseases including life sciences, history and other disciplines.

John Donne, Spanish Doctors and the epidemic typhus: fleas or lice?

We describe the infections that appeared in the life and work of John Donne (1572-1631), the English metaphysical poet, mainly the exanthematic typhus that suffered and gave arise to his work Devotions upon emergent occasions, and several steps in my sickness. We discuss the vector of transmission of this disease, in comparison of other infections in that period, that Donne´s scholars have related to the flea without mentioning the body louse, the true vector of the exanthematic typhus. Likewise, we mention the exanthematic typhus´s symptoms in his Devotions in comparison with the Luis de Toro´s or Alfonso López de Corella´s works, Spanish doctors in those times and the first doctors in write books about the disease, and the singular treatment of pigeon carcasses on the soles of the feet in English Doctors but not in Spanish Doctors.

On Courtroom Dramas and Plot Twists: Typhus in Eighteenth-Century London

This article applies the model developed in Charles Rosenberg's seminal article "What is an Epidemic?" to typhus outbreaks in eighteenth-century London. That framework remains valuable for understanding contagious disease in early modernity by helping to highlight the structure of responses to epidemics. So-called "Jail Fever" outbreaks are especially instructive, in part because the most notorious of these epidemics were small affairs when compared to the larger pandemics that Rosenberg explored. Considering that they accounted for relatively few deaths, historians must answer why they caused such a stir. Whereas the raw body count often drives development of narratives about epidemics, eighteenth-century typhus epidemics often hinged more on who died and where than how many. Typhus ravaged poor and working class communities throughout the period. However, even significant spikes in mortality occurring in poor neighborhoods often failed to trigger proclamations of epidemics. Some deaths mattered more than others in this regard, suggesting that qualitative criteria may have played a greater role than quantitative criteria when it came to identifying which events registered as epidemics in the eighteenth century.

Epidemiological state-building in interwar Poland: discourses and paper technologies

ArgumentThe paper argues that epidemic surveillance and state-building were closely interconnected in interwar Poland. Starting from the paper technology of weekly epidemiological reporting it discusses how the reporting scheme of Polish epidemics came into being in the context of a typhus epidemic in 1919-20. It then shows how the statistics regarding nation-wide epidemics was put into practice. It is only when we take into account these practices that we can understand the epidemiological order the statistics produced. The preprinted weekly report form registered Jews and Christians separately. Yet, the imagined national epidemiological space that emerged from it hardly took notice of this separation. Rather, the category that differentiated Polish epidemiological space in medical discourse was the capacity of contributing to the state-making practices of epidemic surveillance. This category divided Poland into two regions: a civilized and modern western region and a backward and peripheral eastern region.

[Red Cross war hospital in Rijeka (1914-1918)]

The article describes how the system of medical care for wounded soldiers in Rijeka during the First World War was organized. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire the hospital care for sick and wounded soldiers, except of a military health care, was under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Red Cross. The Municipal Committee of the Hungarian Red Cross in Rijeka, established in 1881, renewed its previously suspended activity in August 1914, with the task of starting a war hospital for wounded soldiers. For this purpose, the former Hotel for emigrants, a large modern building opened in 1908, was converted. It became the center of hospital care for wounded soldiers in the city. Also, under the supervision of the Red Cross in Rijeka several smaller auxiliary dispensaries were organized. The other city health care facilities and the most of the physicians in Rijeka were included in the care for the wounded. The head of the volunteer nurses of the Red Cross was the president of the Red Cross in Rijeka, Countess Sofia Wickenburg, the wife of the governor and at the same time the president of the Red Cross city branch. The medical staff in Rijeka was particularly noted for its successful and rapid suppression of a typhus epidemic in February and March 1915. The paper is based on research of archival funds in the State Archives in Rijeka and part of the Rijeka and Zagreb press.

[Schofield and the first spread of western medicine in Shanxi]

After the Second Opium War, the signing of the Tientsin Treaty and the Peking Treaty legitimized the missionary activities and authorized the missionary the rights to enter inland China for propagating their religious doctrines. In the late 1870s, the"The extraordinary famine of the Ding Wu year"and the subsequent epidemic provided the opportunity for missionaries to enter Shanxi. Dr. Schofield, sent by the China Inland Mission, arrived in Taiyuan in 1880, set up clinics and practised there. He died of typhus after treating a typhus patient in the summer of 1883. Schofield stayed and practised in Taiyuan for 2 years and 8 months. Later, the China Inland Mission and other missionaries donated to establish a Shanxi's first western medicine Hospital to commemorate Schofield. The medical activities of Dr. Schofield enlightened and promoted the Shanxi people's understanding of western medicine.

Wartime infections and tragedies at the beginning of the 20th century in the Eastern part of Turkey

In the early 20th century, Europe and the Ottoman Empire as a whole experienced a large number of epidemic diseases, and several wars. During World War I (WW1) a general mobilization of the medical services under Ottoman Empire rule was enacted. However, shortages of food and water, unfavourable weather and poor sanitary conditions resulted in numerous diseases at the battle fronts. Indeed, during the Ottoman-Russian war on the Eastern Front, the Turks suffered massive loss of life. This article therefore emphasises that during WW1, such loss of life in the Ottoman Army on the Eastern Front, which was one of the key fronts of the war, was mainly due to epidemic diseases rather than battles.

[Typhus in Mexico City in 1915]

The year 1915 was particularly difficult; it was characterized by droughts, famines, and outbreaks of diseases including typhus.This text exposes its spread in Mexico City as well as the measures implemented to combat it, carried out before knowing the etiology of the illness, focused on cleaning up the environment and the measures undertaken afterwards with the aim of delousing people.

Dr Robert Robertson (1742-1829): Fever Specialist and Philosopher-Experimenter in the Treatment of Fevers with Peruvian Bark in the Latter Eighteenth-century Royal Navy

The life and works of Dr Robert Robertson are reviewed set against the background of the extant British management of fevers during the latter 18th-century. Commencing in 1769, using the febrifuge Peruvian bark (cortex Peruvianus; Jesuit's Powder), he experimented and tested Peruvian bark mono-therapy protocols in the tropics in the cure and prevention of intermittent fever (predominantly malaria). His later work also showed the benefit of the bark in the acute care of developed continuous fevers (largely Ship Fever due to Epidemic Louse-borne Typhus Fever) in both the Temperate and Torrid Zones. In the realm of comparative statistics Robertson first demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of bark therapy against the dangerous depleting processes of the antiphlogistic regimen. He was the first to alert the Admiralty to the efficacy of bark in both the cure of acute fevers as well as a prophylactic in the tropics, and signalled the dangers of bloodletting in treating fevers of the tropics. He authored 13 books devoted to fevers outlining his theory of Febrile Infection and its treatment. The essay concludes with his role as the Physician-in-Charge of the Royal Hospital, Greenwich over a 28-year period, as an acknowledged expert in the small British group of 18th-century fever specialists.

[Epidemics on the sea: migrants journeys in the nineteenth century]

In the nineteenth century travelling by ship became faster due to the introduction of the steam engine. Population growth, economic crises and food shortages forced millions of Italians to consider migration towards the Americas as a real opportunity. Travel conditions on ships and steamers were particularly difficult. People were crammed into dormitories where ventilation was poor, food was insufficient, hygiene was appalling and promiscuity was rife. Under such conditions, epidemics of cholera, typhus and measles were all too likely to develop, but mycobacterium tuberculosis also proliferated. The health authorities attempted to block the spread of epidemics by means of either health licenses - papers certifying good health of the crew and passengers, which had to be exhibited on arrival - or quarantine, involving the ship and all its contents, if infectious diseases were detected or suspicious deaths occurred during the ship's voyage. In this article the particularly unfortunate stories of Italian immigrants, who boarded ships and steamers, are reported. In the second half of the nineteenth century, but also in the first decades of the twentieth, millions of Italians whose aim was to reach the Americas paid a very high price. Italy did not provide acceptable living conditions for millions of farmers and town-dwellers, and migration in search of work was in many cases the only solution. Although many during their sea voyages became ill or died of starvation or infectious diseases, migration, supported by hope, continued.

The RAMC at Belsen 1945: typhus revisited

OBJECTIVE

The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) has justly regarded its relief of the appalling conditions found in the liberated Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen in April 1945 as one of its more glorious achievements. This view has, in the last decade, come under attack from historians who have, inter alia, criticised the nature and speed of the medical measures employed by the British. This has focused particularly on the management of the typhus epidemic, erroneously claimed to be the major disease killer of the survivors, and which was the catalyst for the premature German surrender of the camp to the approaching Allies about 3 weeks before the end of the war. This review examines the veracity of this statement and the nature of the evidence on which it was based.

METHODS

Review of all the relevant extant primary source written evidence both published and archived in major collections in London, Washington and Belsen, in addition to the relevant subsequent secondary evidence.

RESULTS

Disprove the ill-considered and scientifically flawed attempts to discredit the RAMC and demonstrate that the RAMC can be shown to have made the correct prioritising decisions in relieving starvation as well as in implementing the appropriate public health anti-typhus measures and to have acquitted itself honourably.

DISCUSSION

Underlines the pitfalls of basing sweeping conclusions on an imperfectly understood inadequate selection of the available evidence.

Drought and epidemic typhus, central Mexico, 1655-1918

Epidemic typhus is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Rickettsia prowazekii and transmitted by body lice (Pediculus humanus corporis). This disease occurs where conditions are crowded and unsanitary. This disease accompanied war, famine, and poverty for centuries. Historical and proxy climate data indicate that drought was a major factor in the development of typhus epidemics in Mexico during 1655–1918. Evidence was found for 22 large typhus epidemics in central Mexico, and tree-ring chronologies were used to reconstruct moisture levels over central Mexico for the past 500 years. Below-average tree growth, reconstructed drought, and low crop yields occurred during 19 of these 22 typhus epidemics. Historical documents describe how drought created large numbers of environmental refugees that fled the famine-stricken countryside for food relief in towns. These refugees often ended up in improvised shelters in which crowding encouraged conditions necessary for spread of typhus.

[The eagle and the louse: typhus in the Grand Army]

How is it that lice, such a common parasite, have shaken the Napoleonic empire? This paper, based on medical literature and on proven facts, is going to tell the history of such a "war pestilence", a "contagious typhus".

[Epidemics in the news in Portugal: cholera, plague, typhus, influenza and smallpox, 1854-1918]

In severe health crisis like those of 1854-1856, 1899 and 1918, especially in Porto, where cholera morbus, the bubonic plague, typhus fever, pneumonic influenza and smallpox killed high percentages of the population, the images of the epidemics in the press enable us to identify the scientific knowledge in a country considered peripheral, but which had studies and personnel specialized at the most advanced levels for the time. A database of 6,700 news items and announcements reveals the medical and pharmaceutical knowledge of the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the way it was transmitted and disclosed to the public and the solutions offered by the health authorities. Hygiene was consistently highlighted in the news and announcements.

[Typhus fever morbidity among the military personnel and civilians in the regions around Volga river during World War I]

The article is concerned to the materials about epidemiologic situation of typhus fever in the regions around Volga river (Saratovsky, Samarsky and others) during World War I (1914-1918) among the military personnel of the Russian army and among the civilians. The main reasons for spread of infection, ways of the transmission, and also measures for decreasing of level of morbidity on the different stages of evacuation of patients with typhus fever in the safer hospitals are shown. The most important methods of fighting against epidemic of typhus fever were: isolation of patients in separate special hospitals, desincection and disinfection measures in the foci of infection and organization appropriate sanitary conditions for military man in the army and among civilians. Acquired valuable experience of territorial and military doctors during the period of epidemic of typhus fever allowed receiving complex effective antiepidemic measures of fighting and prevention from this disease.

Typhus syncopalis: an epidemic in Connecticut in 1823

In 1825 Dr. Thomas Miner wrote about an epidemic that occurred in Middletown, Connecticut in 1823. He called this disease "Typhus syncopalis," sinking typhus, or New England spotted fever. Differences in the understanding of disease processes in the early 19th century preclude a definitive modern equivalent fortyphus syncopalis. In addition, there are disagreements among Dr. Miners' contemporaries with regard to fever classification systems. Examination of the symptoms and physical findings as described by Dr. Miner suggest the presence of encephalitis or meningitis as well as a syndrome resembling a shock-like state. Based on symptom comparisons, this paper suggests that typhus syncopalis was likely meningococcemia caused by Neisseria meningiditis.

[Dr. Elizabeth Ross: heroine and victim of the World War I in Serbia]

At the beginning of 1915, several months after the World War I started, Serbia was in an extremely difficult situation.The country was war-ravaged, full of sick and wounded soldiers, there was a desperate shortage of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel, and the epidemic of typhus fever exploded and violently attacked the entire country. At that time, however, a number of both foreign allied medical missions and individual volunteers, from various countries, mostly from Great Britain, came to Serbia to help. Among them mostly were women, and they were of enormous support to Serbia in that grave situation. It is estimated that there were more than 600 foreign women volunteers in Serbia at that time and that 22 of them died there. Dr. Elizabeth Ross was one of those brave volunteers who came to Serbia early in 1915. That noble Scottish lady doctor was born in 1878 and finished her medical studies at the University of Glasgow in 1901. After graduation she worked in various places in Great Britain until 1909, when she went to Persia (Iran), where she worked until the beginning of the so called Great War. When she heard of the urgent need in Serbia she left Persia as soon as she could and volunteered to serve in Serbia. She came to Kragujevac at the beginning of January 1915, where she worked at the First Military Reserve Hospital, which at that time was actually a typhus hospital. Working there intensively and devotedly for several weeks under shocking conditions she contracted typhus herself and died there on her 37th birthday on February 14th, 1915. She was buried in Kragujevac, next to two British ladies who also died in Serbia of typhus. Her grave was restored in 1980 when the town of Kragujevac started holding commemorations at the graveside every February 14th at noon to honor her and all other brave and noble women who lost their lives helping Serbia at that unfortunate time.

[The humanitarian work of France in the Sahara. The Health Service of the army in the territories of Southern Algeria (1900-1976]

Medical assistance to the Saharian populations (1900-1976) is viewed through its organization. The management of the Health Service in the Southern Territories, doctors, nursing staff, medical districts, centred on infirmary-hospitals and rural first-aid posts. We insist on the everrising free consultations and the care to sick and wounded patients in infirmaries; the fight against epidemics and social scourges. Then on French medical mission from 1963 to 1976, and on the humanitarian work by the Health Service throughout the five continents.

Rapid urinary antigen diagnosis of infectious diseases: the legacy of Dr. Ludwik Fleck

Reviewing recent pages on social studies of science, the authors found several articles dealing with Dr. Ludwik Fleck's philosophical work. Fleck's interest was even more intensive in medical science. Apart from the typhus serology; he worked extensively in the field of microbiology and described the "Leukergy" phenomenon. A modest contribution was recently added to this list, dealing with Fleck's scientific legacy, namely his contribution to the early diagnosis of infectious diseases. Presented as "Fleck's hypothesis", an outline was given on antigens in the urine of patients with typhus exanthematicus, a disease that needed an early diagnosis or a preventative vaccination. The urine antigen discovery by Fleck is generally unknown to today's practitioner making the diagnosis of infectious agents with sophisticated methodology. We present the widespread use of a simple urine-drop test for antigen detection, feasible even in peripheral community environment. This clinical application is attributed to L. Fleck.

[The North African plague and Charles Nicolle's theory of infectious diseases]

Many infectious diseases were described in North Africa in 18th-19th centuries by European travellers. Most of them were allegedly imported by new migrant populations coming from sub-Saharan, European or Middle East countries. Plague outbreaks have been described since the Black Death as diseases of the Mediterranean harbours. Charles Nicolle and his collaborators at the Pasteur Institute were witnesses to the extinction of plague and typhus fever in Tunisia. Both could be considered as endemo-epidemic diseases propagated by ancient nomad communities for centuries. Typhus was exported to other countries; plague was imported by Mediterranean travellers but also hid in unknown wild-animal reservoirs. The role of the bite of a rat's flea was not confirmed and the pneumonic form might have prevailed in the medieval North African cities. Association between plague, typhus, flu and other causes of immune deficiencies could explain the high morbidity and mortality caused by plague in the past. The authors comment the local history of plague at the light of the evolutionary laws of infectious disease proposed by Charles Nicolle in 1930.

Control of typhus fever in Finland during World War II

The article describes the measures taken against the threat of typhus epidemic in Finland during the Second World War. Comparisons between countries at war and their different typhus prevention methods are made. The main method of typhus prevention in Finland consisted of regular sauna bathing, which was culturally acceptable and very efficient when combined with heating of the clothing. The Finnish troops remained virtually louse-free by ecological and traditional methods, and thus the spread of typhus fever in the army could be prevented.

The Greenock medical martyrs of 1864-65

In the nineteenth century it was not uncommon for doctors to die from infectious diseases, but the death of five young physicians in Greenock--one third of the medical profession in a medium-sized Scottish town--from epidemic typhus, during four consecutive months in 1864-65, was an unusual event. This paper describes the lives and backgrounds of these five doctors, whose deaths in the line of duty earned them the description 'medical martyrs'.

[Epidemics in nortthern Basque: black death and the Spanish influenza]

The paper studies the great epidemics that have affected Europe from the middle ages until the 20th century. A special emphasis is put on in the mortality of the Black Death in 1348 (500 per thousand), the smallpox in the 18th century (150 per thousand), the spotted fever in the end of the 18th century (50 per thousand), the cholera pandemic in the 19th century (25.5 - 62.7 per thousand), the tuberculosis in the end of the 19th century (5.3 per thousand) and the mortality that the Spanish influenza produced in the beginnings of the 20th century (12.1 per thousand) in the Basque Country.

Medical science in the light of the Holocaust: Departing from a post-war paper by Ludwik Fleck

In scholarly debates, Ludwik Fleck's post-war paper 'Problemy naukoznawstwa [Problems of the Science of Science]', published in 1946, has been taken unanimously to illustrate the epistemology expounded in his monograph Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact. The paper has also been seen to support parts of the received view of Fleck, notably that he manufactured an anti-typhus vaccine while imprisoned in Buchenwald. However, a different narrative emerges when comparing Fleck's paper with other accounts, also published in 1946 and written by other prisoners alluded to by Fleck in his paper. The situation is further complicated by four papers, published in prestigious scientific journals between 1942 and 1945, by the German medical leader of the typhus studies accounted for by Fleck. In addition, a thus-far neglected paper by Fleck, published in 1946 and summarizing his observations on typhus, discloses his role in the Buchenwald studies. Despite the obvious difficulties with tracing the history behind these works, notably the one on Nazi science, the contention is that what was attempted in Buchenwald in the name of science amounted to pseudoscience. This conclusion is amply supported not only by the accounts given by Fleck's fellow prisoners, but also by his own post-war paper on typhus. Based on the above findings, it is suggested that the mythology about Fleck, established in the 1980s, has been accomplished by a selective reading of his papers and also that the role played by Fleck was more complex than has so far been contemplated.

[The role of Turkish physicians in the vaccination against typhus during the years of World War I]

During the years of World War I, several severe typhus epidemics were seen in Erzurum and nearby cities. A total of 164 health officers, 125 of whom were physicians, struggled against the epidemic in the region but also they lost their lives due to typhus. Vaccination against typhus was one of the means of fighting the epidemic. However, there were some claims that a small group of Turkish physicians injected typhus-contaminated serum into Armenian civilians during World War I, and that this should be accepted as a form of biological warfare against Armenian civilians. The purpose of this article is to set out how, by whom, and on whom, and under what conditions the typhus vaccination was applied in order to reveal the truth in terms of the evidence found in historical documents. The typhus vaccine was prepared from blood taken from febrile patients affected by the disease. After the blood of the patients were defibrinated and inactivated at 60 degrees C for an hour, it was used. As the amount of blood needed to prepare the vaccine was so great, the amount of available vaccine was always insufficient to meet the demand. Hence, the prepared vaccine was only applied to those which had the higher risk of contracting typhus such as physicians and nurses. The vaccine prepared by The Third Army Health Commander Dr. Tevfik Salim was first applied to nine officers, five of whom were physicians, and among whom were Dr. Haydar Cemal and Dr. Salahattin on March 28, 1915 in Hasankale, Erzurum. Furthermore, the same vaccine was applied to people in the vicinity by Dr. Alaattin in Erzurum, Dr. Abdulhalim Asim in Bayburt, Dr. Izak in Sivas and Dr. Mihran in Hasankale. Ali Ihsan Sabis and Fevzi Cakmak, who were high ranking officers, were among those who volunteered to have the vaccination. The Third Army Health Commander Dr. Tevfik Salim ordered that the vaccine should not be applied without blood inactivation. Despite this order, Dr. Hamit Osman, who had a mental illness, applied the vaccination without inactivating the blood to some people. Among those were physicians of the Red Crescent Hospital together with soldiers who were nursing in the hospitals in Erzincan. Dr. Hamdi Suat inactivated the blood by leaving it at -16 degrees C for 24-48 hours, and instead of giving a single dose, he applied three-doses with 3-day-intervals, followed by a one more dose, which he called "the vaccine for absolute immunization" to the same people after 10-23 days. This "vaccine for absolute immunization" was actually typhus-contaminated blood which had not been inactivated. It should be noted that he injected himself with the same form of vaccine. In his article published in German in 1916 and in Turkish in 1917, he stated that he injected "the vaccine for absolute immunization" to some subjects 'condemned to death'. Dr. Haydar Cemal claimed, in a newspaper dated December 23, 1918, that the people reported as subjects 'condemned to death' were indeed Armenians, and that the innocent Armenians marked out for deportation were inoculated with the blood of typhus fever patients, and that he eyewitnessed all these events. As a result of his claims, the Interior Ministry demanded an immediate investigation, and at the end of that investigation it was understood that Dr. Haydar Cemal and Dr. Hamdi Suat had never worked together in Erzincan at the time Dr. Haydar Cemal claimed. All the claims were refuted by the investigating committee and nobody was charged. During a severe typhus epidemic, Turkish physicians injected the typhus vaccine for the purpose of "saving a life from the fire". The typhus vaccine was prepared using the available scientific knowledge of the time. No racial or religious discrimination against the people vaccinated had been proved. According to the sources, the claim that some Turkish physicians used the blood of patients with typhus as a means of biological warfare does not reflect the historical truth.

"Air, sun, water": ideology and activities of OZE (Society for the Preservation of the Health of the Jewish Population) during the interwar period

This paper follows the social and political history of OZE, the Society for the Preservation of the Health of the Jewish Population, in the interwar period. We focus on two campaigns against typhus and favus, the first two disease oriented efforts by OZE, in order to reconstruct the operational approaches, considerations and obstacles faced by OZE as a Jewish organization and transnational participant in the discourse on the health and politics of minorities between two world wars. The analysis of OZE as a transnational Jewish relief organization has a wider significance as an example of international organizations originating from civil initiatives to promote the health of minorities through field work and politics.

Rudolph Weigl (1883-1957)--a scientist in Poland in wartime plus ratio quam vis

Rudolph Weigl gained a high estimation for his spectacular invention of the first efficient vaccine against typhus fever. Although born a German native speaker, he changed into a great Pole with Polish education and upbringing in a patriotic atmosphere. His scientific career developed in the Universities of Lvov, Cracow and Poznan. For him, academic employment was a constant exploration of practical truths and a response to human needs, and this remained a deep obligation during his lifetime. His vaccine saved millions, particularly during World War II. Despite many nominations, he was never awarded the Nobel Prize.

[Petechial typhus in Napoleonic Italy. Scientific debate and the role of Giovanni Rasori]

During the Napoleonic wars, an epidemic recrudescence of petechial typhus was observed throughout Europe. In Italy, the epidemic first broke out in Genoa, in 1799, coming from southern France, during the sieges of the Austro-Hungarian army. Giovanni Rasori, a young Republican physician and man of the sciences, supported the besieged and contributed to defend the city. From the beginning, Rasori identified the cause of the epidemic in petechial typhus, being able to evaluate its clinical presentation, and developed a pathogenetic theory, known as contrastimulus. At that time, this theory obtained some success, though opposed by the academic establishment in Lombardy. In this article, we present the medical and philosophical ideas which, in the period between the 18th and 19th century, pervaded medical Italian culture. Furthermore, a biographic profile of Giovanni Rasori is described, a courageous scientist who did not disdain to take part in political and cultural Italian life during a historical period that was to become important for the future fortunes of Italy.

"Belsenitis": liberating Belsen, its hospitals, UNRRA, and selection for re-emigration, 1945-1948

The liberation of the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen has remained controversial with opinion divided over whether the British military and subsequently the British zonal administration responded adequately to the plight of survivors. This paper reconsiders the evidence on health conditions at Bergen-Belsen. At first the British underestimated the incidence of typhus and the delay in taking effective measures caused the death rate to remain high. In the longer-term, measures for psychotic, old, and infirm DPs were inadequate as criteria that favored the fit and able-bodied were applied when selecting migrants.

[Petechial typhus. History of men, armies and pedicula]

Since the Classical age, humankind has had to cope with petechial typhus, especially during wars and famine. Epidemics chiefly occurred during sieges and followed the paths of armies, when infected soldiers transmitted the infection to populations with whom they came into contact. Winter exacerbated the disease due to the use of unhygienic woollen clothes that allowed the spread of pediculosis. It was only in the early 18th century that petechial typhus outbreaks diminished thanks to the use of Marseille soap and to the new custom of changing clothing at bedtime. In many military campaigns, deaths from typhus were higher than those due to war wounds: recent studies established that the French defeat during the Napoleonic Russian military campaign has to be attributed more to typhus than to the military superiority of the enemy. Indeed, the contagion is estimated to have affected 80% of the 600,000 troops involved. The role of Pediculus as a vehicle of infection established in 1909 by Charles Nicolle, microbiological isolation performed by Howard Ricketts and Stanislaus von Prowazck, and finally the advent of antibiotic therapy, all laid the basis for controlling the disease in the 20th century.

William Henderson (1810-72) and homeopathy in Edinburgh

William Henderson was appointed professor of general pathology at Edinburgh University and physician-in-ordinary to the ERI. He produced several papers on clinical and pathological aspects of aortic and heart disease and contributed to the differentiation of typhus and typhoid fevers. He became a homeopathist and was at the centre of a controversy surrounding the introduction of homeopathy to Edinburgh in the 1840s. This involved the Faculty of Medicine, the RCPE and medical societies as well as medical personalities, prominent among whom were Professor Sir James Y Simpson, Professor Sir Robert Christison and Professor James Syme. Many Scottish medical graduates were involved in the introduction of homeopathy to the British Isles. Glasgow is one of only four UK cities still to have a homeopathic hospital.