ABSTRACT
Mediterranean fever or brucellosis was an endemic disease at the beginning of the 20th century in the Mediterranean area. Étienne Burnet, a pastorian researcher, studied this zoonosis in the Pasteur Institute of Tunis between 1920 and 1928 and enhanced our knowledge with various experiences on the genius Brucella, particularly melitensis variety. He developed the so-called Burnet's test or melitine IDR diagnose test. The thermo-agglutination of paramelitensis group, now known as the S forms colonies, led him question the variability of this non-specific character. He showed that thermo-agglutination is associated with specific antigenic properties and is common with other bacteria's species and could be acquired cross over colonies culture... The authors attempt to reconstitute the context of these experiences and to show the actuality of evolutionary Burnet's conception of living micro-organisms.
Subject(s)
Brucella/isolation & purification , Brucellosis/history , Zoonoses/history , Animals , Brucellosis/diagnosis , History, 20th Century , Humans , Tunisia , Zoonoses/diagnosis , Zoonoses/microbiologyABSTRACT
Local community service centres (CLSCs) emerged in Quebec in the early 1970s, in the context of the reform of Quebec's healthcare system and the North American movement for popular clinics or Neighbourhood Health Centers. The first CLSCs-primary healthcare institutions before the World Health Organization (WHO) popularized the concept-were mandated to offer a range of basic health and social services, while developing community action. The latter, defined as the art and method of getting the population to take part in identifying and solving health and social problems through information, education and group discussions, gradually asserted itself, thanks to the activism of a new category of professionals: community practitioners. Covering the entire province, throughout their existence, the 160 CLSCs were veritable laboratories for community organizations and a remarkable creative force behind the development of a policy of home support services and mental health in the community. Although their structure changed many times, particularly in the current context of reform to implement 95 local integrated service networks in the province, it continues to be a source of inspiration and of major actors.
Subject(s)
Community Networks/history , Community Networks/statistics & numerical data , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , National Health Programs , Primary Health Care , Public Policy , Quebec , Social ChangeABSTRACT
Bacteriological discoveries of the last third of the nineteenth century gave rise to radical shifts in understanding the causes and methods of controlling infectious diseases. In Quebec, between 1880-1900, two physicians and a women's organization led the health education movement. We describe firstly the origins of that movement within the context of public health conditions. Secondly we analyze the content of an educational popular periodical: Le Journal d'hygiène populaire, which the two physicians edited in succession. Lastly, we discuss the establishment and contributions of the Montreal Local Council of Women (MLCW).
Subject(s)
Communicable Diseases/history , Health Education/history , Public Health/history , Communicable Disease Control/history , Communicable Diseases/epidemiology , Female , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Periodicals as Topic/history , Quebec/epidemiologyABSTRACT
From the military occupation of Tunisia by France in 1881 to that country's independence in 1956, several successive medical observers left behind a wealth of information on the state of health of hte populations composing the Tunisian mosaic. Even thought pre-colonial Tunisia has often been described as a land saddled with disasters and plagues, medical "topographers," most of whom were military doctors accompanying the French expeditionary corps, focused on the fact that few epidemics ever occurred in Tunisia at the time of the Regency. According to some of them, the health situation was better than in Algeria who had been a colony for half a century. The research conducted by the Institut Pasteur in Tunis and medical dissertations by hospital interns in the Regency's capital provide a second source of information comprising invaluable information about endemic infectious diseases. In the inter-war period, the social hygiene movement concentrated upon fighting tuberculosis and protecting infant and maternal health, shifting medical focus to social or "ordinary" diseases and their treatment. Prior to Tunisian independence, a third wave of studies conducted by the new university's socio-medical research group reinforced the connection between lifestyle and health.
