RESUMO
Tetanus and other widespread endemic diseases of Brazil's early national period speak to intimate details of common life and give clues to big, vexing questions, such as why Brazil's population expanded dramatically at the turn of the twentieth century. Tetanus was for a long time one of Brazil's deadliest afflictions, especially among infants, but historians know very little about it. Using archival sources from across the Empire and early Republic, this article argues tetanus disproportionately killed the enslaved population, but gradually diminished in virulence for nearly all groups across the country by the second half of the 1800s. This decline should be attributed only partially to medical knowledge. Rather, indirect demographic and technological changes were more important factors in Brazil.
O tétano e outras doenças largamente endêmicas no período inicial do Brasil nação nos permitem entender pequenos detalhes da vida comum e grandes e inquietantes questões, tais como por que a população expandiu-se dramaticamente no início do século XX. O tétano foi uma das afecções mais mortais no Brasil, especialmente entre as crianças, mas os historiadores ainda conhecem pouco sobre ele. Utilizando fontes arquivísticas do Império e do início da República, este artigo argumenta que o tétano era desproporcionalmente severo entre a população escravizada, e que sua virulência reduziu em praticamente todos os grupos do país a partir da segunda metade do Oitocentos. Esse declínio deve-se apenas parcialmente aos conhecimentos médicos. Mudanças demográficas e tecnológicas indiretas foram fatores mais importantes no Brasil.
Assuntos
Humanos , História do Século XIX , Tétano/história , História Natural das Doenças , Doenças Endêmicas/história , Pessoas Escravizadas , Brasil , História do Século XIX , EscravizaçãoRESUMO
Federico Puga Borne presented the first two cases of known Chilean tetanus neonatorum in 1891. These cases had a fatal course, were poorly described and had no necropsy. The presentation was done in a regular session of the Sociéte Scientifique du Chili, founded in 1891 by a French citizen settled in the country, and published in the Actes de la Sociéte Scientifique du Chili. At this time, tetanus had never been seen in a newborn in Chile, while it was very common in other South American countries; its popular name was alferecía, but this term covered many other neurological disorders.
Se reproducen in extenso los dos casos de tétanos neonatal presentados como los primeros descritos en Chile por Federico Puga Borne en una reunión de la Societé Scientifique du Chili, sociedad fundada en 1891 por ciudadanos franceses, cuyo órgano de expresión Actes de la Société Scientifique du Chili apareció hasta 1938. Aimbos casos fueron fatales, no tuvieron autopsia y están pobremente descritos. En la reunión se comenta la rareza de esta patología en Chile, a diferencia de su alta incidencia en los países vecinos, y se menciona que el pueblo la conocía con el nombre de alferecía, que parecía reunir diversas afecciones neurológicas.
Assuntos
História do Século XIX , Humanos , Recém-Nascido , Masculino , Terminologia como Assunto , Tétano/história , Chile , Cordão Umbilical/microbiologiaRESUMO
A copy of an ola leaf manuscript, the original of which was written around the late 1590s, was published recently. It describes the sequence of events leading to the death of the warrior King Rajasinghe of the Sithawake Kingdom (1521-1593). A study of the contents of this letter is presented. The dressing applied to a wound on the foot of the King is described in that letter. It is likely that this dressing would have been an ideal medium to produce the highly potent tetanus exotoxin. The toxin would have diffused into the open wound and produced the sequence of symptoms and signs mentioned in the letter. An analysis of the symptoms and signs noted during the King's last illness as described in the letter is presented. Laryngospasm, and tonic and clonic spasms are easily identified. In addition, a group of symptoms attributed in the 1960s to sympathetic over-activity in tetanus are also recognisable. The conclusion is drawn that the King died of tetanus. The intriguing possibility of the wilful use of a lethal dressing on an open wound as a biological contact poison is left open for discussion.
Assuntos
Pessoas Famosas , Traumatismos do Pé/história , História do Século XVI , Humanos , Masculino , Sri Lanka , Tétano/história , Toxina Tetânica/história , Ferimentos Penetrantes/históriaRESUMO
Se hace una revisión extensa de la fisiopatología, clínica, tratamiento y complicaciones del tétanos neonatal. En Colombia la incidencia de esta enfermedad varía de región a región, con una mortalidad superior al 50 por ciento. Entre sus factores predisponentes figuran una condición socioeconómica baja y el parto no institucional que permite la colonización umbilical por Clostridium tetani. La severidad está relacionada con el inicio precoz de los síntomas. El tratamiento se basa en el aislamiento sensorial, antitoxina tetánica, penicilina, relajación con diazepam y alimentación enteral por sonda nasogástrica; en los casos con compromiso de la mecánica ventilatoria se requiere relajación y ventilación mecánica. Es fácilmente inmunoprevenible con la aplicación de toxoide tetánico a las gestantes