Los orígenes caribeños del Sistema Nacional de Salud Pública en los EEUU: una aproximación global a la historia de la medicina y de la salud pública en Latinoamérica / The Caribbean origins of the National Public Health System in the USA: a global approach to the history of medicine and public health in Latin America

Este artículo define la historia global en relación con historia de la medicina y la salud pública. Defiende que una aproximación global a la historia abre un espacio para reverberaciones transmitidas desde la periferia geográfica hacia regiones occidentales, las cuales, tradicionalmente, han dominado la historiografía moderna. Analiza dos intervenciones médicas, en el Caribe, a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, y señala que estos sucesos tuvieron profundas consecuencias en los EEUU. Los logros alcanzados en el Caribe, en lo relativo al control de la fiebre amarilla y del anquilostoma, además de servir de modelo para campañas sanitarias en el sur de los EEUU, impulsaron la centralización de la salud pública norteamericana bajo el control centralizador del gobierno federal.

This article defines global history in relation to the history of medicine and public health. It argues that a global approach to history opens up a space for examining the reverberations transmitted from the geographic periphery towards western regions, which have traditionally dominated modern historiography. It analyzes two medical interventions in the Caribbean in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, showing how these events had profound consequences in the USA. The successes achieved in the Caribbean in terms of yellow fever and ancylostoma control, as well as providing a model for health campaigns in the southern USA, inspired the centralization of public health in North America under the centralizing control of the federal government.

Digital photography in anatomical pathology.

Digital imaging has made major inroads into the routine practice of anatomical pathology and replaces photographic prints and Kodachromes for reporting and conference purposes. More advanced systems coupled to computers allow greater versatility and speed of turnaround as well as lower costs of incorporating macroscopic and microscopic pictures into pathology reports and publications. Digital images allow transmission to remote sites via the Internet for consultation, quality assurance and educational purposes, and can be stored on and disseminated by CD-ROM. Total slide digitisation is now a reality and will replace glass slides to a large extent. Three-dimensional images of gross specimens can be assembled and posted on websites for interactive educational programmes. There are also applications in research, allowing more objective and automated quantitation of a variety of morphological and immunohistological parameters. Early reports indicate that medical vision systems are a reality and can provide for automated computer-generated histopathological diagnosis and quality assurance.

Optimal imaging in static telepathology.

Telepathology is the most recent addition to the diagnostic armory of the Pathologist. In spite of its relative limitations, as compared to Dynamic Telepathology, Static Telepathology has been widely accepted as a low-cost diagnostic and consultation tool, especially in those remote areas where expert opinions or second opinions on histopathology, cytopathology or haematopathology are not readily available to the reporting pathologist. For an accurate Telepathology performance, optimal quality of images is required. Knowledgeable use of available hardware and software have made it possible to produce high quality images, making Static Telepathology a reliable diagnostic tool.