This thesis explores the theme of the plague in sixteenth-century French literature, beginning with works from Antiquity and the Middle Ages in 16th-century French translation: Claude de Seyssel’s LHistoire de Thucydide Athenien and LHistoire Ecclesiastique; Pierre Robert Olivétan’s Bible; Antoine Le Maçon’s Le Decameron de Messire Jehan Bocace; and Richard Le Blanc’s Georgiques de Virgile. While the plague narratives in these works present a large portion of the corpus of the disease that would later provide models of both structure and imagery for writers of new works throughout the French Renaissance, they can above all be read independently as works of French literature. They not only reflect the diseases known then as plague, but also the sentiments of a period troubled with the Wars of Religion, foreshadowing events that were to unfold as the century progressed. The second part of the thesis explores the theme of the plague at once as a lived and an inherited experience in the works of Clément Marot, Michel de Nostredame / Nostradamus, Pierre Boaistuau, Ambroise Paré and Michel de Montaigne. While reusing clichés from the established plague corpus in their own works, these authors also add new clichés, whether experienced or created, to this corpus. The reader can therefore identify continuity over the course of the chapters, while the new context and function of these clichés demonstrate originality within each chapter. Chronological close readings are essential to gain an understanding of the unique literary qualities of these texts and how the theme of the plague evolves over the course of the 16th century. I concentrate on literary devices such as mimesis (the representation of the plague through experience and works of precedence), ekphrasis (the vivid imagery of plague narratives) and self-portraiture (the creation of literary doubles within the framework of plague narratives), while also taking into account how epidemics have been momentous in the lives of several of these authors. Although built upon many different historical diseases, the plague becomes a codified, highly recognizable literary genre by the close of the French Renaissance. / Romance Languages and Literatures

This dissertation concentrates on the history of frontiers, borderlands, and empires in Eastern and Central Europe in the eighteenth century. While the existing literature examines mainly ideological and political competitions among the empires for land, resources, and the stateless population; I explore more physical and material spheres of rivalry such as border security, economy and public health. This dissertation explores the politics of the Russian Empire in these spheres in the eighteenth century. It argues that the policies of improvement in migration control, border infrastructure, and health care promoted by the government of Catherine II allowed the empire to incorporate its borderland with Poland-Lithuania and attract the local population more swiftly and effectively than did political repressions, ideological propaganda, or forced cultural assimilation. / History

This dissertation explores the relationship between the imperial city of Nuremberg and its extramural, contagious disease hospitals (i.e. for leprosy, plague and syphilis) between 1490 and 1585. It analyzes to what extent the patients in these outlying institutions belonged to the city or were ostracized from it. The diseases presented in three drastically different ways, providing a comparative framework to analyze early modern concepts of vulnerability to disease and levels of accepted responsibility for its citizens, inhabitants, and foreigners. My project takes Nuremberg as a conceptual unit and analytically slices it multiple ways in order to explore whether the outlying patients were inside or outside of the boundaries of the city. I begin by focusing on the hospitals' fundamental "separated status" as geographically outside the boundary of the city walls. I then complicate this simple definition by exploring the geographic and physical movements of the contagious disease workers as they were the corporal instruments of disease care; the expenditure of the city's resources in the supply of nutrition to the patients; and the provision of patients' spiritual services as their symbolic participation in Nuremberg's Body of Christ. I argue that the inhabitants of Nuremberg's contagious disease hospitals were separated outside the walls in order to limit the city's vulnerability to their contaminating physical condition, but they still belonged under the city’s administration, provision, and protection, and, therefore, within the boundary of civic responsibility. In the movement of bodies, all of these seemingly competing boundaries were observed simultaneous, creating the paradoxical position of the extramural patients and continuously redefining Nuremberg as a civic unit.

No description available.

Focusing on the 1851 International Sanitary Conference, this dissertation analyses an important episode in the international regulation of health, trade, passengers, and cargo in a period of epidemic crisis. It argues that a group of diplomats and physicians appointed to represent 12 European nations instituted a new international forum that extended – and occasionally rivalled – national and local agencies for epidemic governance. Together, delegates endeavoured to establish a common sanitary policy in Europe and in the Orient. By creating shared surveillance and judicial mechanisms – while standardising definitions and practices – delegates aimed to engineer the flow of people, vessels, cargo, and diseases in the Mediterranean region. As a transnational forum, the Conference was a platform where doctors and diplomats reinterpreted models of public health and sanitary administration while creating institutions that challenged conventional concepts of borders, national policy, and state sovereignty. As a multinational event, the Conference marked the unprecedented transition from local, national and, bilateral public health policies into a coherent transnational project for the governance of epidemics. The dissertation is based on extensive research conducted in hitherto largely unexplored medical, diplomatic, and national collections in Britain, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United States of America. Sources ranging from diplomatic correspondence to medical publications and personal diaries, tie together multiple national and professional perspectives while untangling a diversity of personal and state agendas that fundamentally shaped the foundation of international public health mechanisms and contributed towards the crystallisation of medical concepts. Chapter one demonstrates how economic and political concerns about the impact of quarantine on international trade led to calls for international regulation and the standardization of quarantine practices in the Mediterranean region. Drawing on medical reports, pamphlets and diplomatic correspondence, the chapter exposes the multitude of quarantine practices in the Mediterranean region and a growing international demand for prophylactic reform. These exchanges, it is shown, culminated with the organization of the 1851 International Sanitary Conference in Paris. Chapter two argues that the Conference challenged previous diplomatic and medical protocols by including two professional groups in the process of regulating international public health. The lack of precedent allowed diplomatic and medical delegates to establish new rules for the conduct of the conference, which gave them a relatively high level of autonomy from the states they represented. Chapter three focuses on the problems of constructing a shared aetiological classification and regulating quarantine practices. It shows that, although doctors gained progressive control over the Conference, ultimately diplomatic agendas shaped the final outcome. In addition, it demonstrates that, rather than defending the elimination of quarantines, liberal states supported the continuation of quarantine practice in the Mediterranean; albeit that they managed to severely limit its operation in practice. Finally, chapter four examines how European and Oriental sanitary institutions were uniformly redesigned and new international judicial mechanisms created. These measures variously affected the sovereignty of the participating states by limiting their independent capacity to set national epidemic policies. However, the chapter argues that these negotiations took the shape of sovereignty bargains: by loosening control over specific elements of their sovereignty, states managed to advance their political, economic and sanitary agendas. By looking at the International Sanitary Conference of 1851, this dissertation shows how the foundations of international public health had consequences not only for the control of epidemic diseases and the circulation of goods and people in the Mediterranean region, but also for the authority and status of the nation states. By doing so, it reveals that international public health governance resulted from the amalgamation of a particular configuration of expert and diplomatic struggles and compromises. Moreover, the dissertation shifts the traditional local and national focus in the history of medicine to a wider and international context where local and national traditions struggled to produce coherent discourses and practices.

Thesis (M.A.)--Duquesne University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-105) and index.

p. 1-71 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-04-23T20:07:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 11111ee.pdf: 1402726 bytes, checksum: 47dcda030901a96f687080b863e3c5a0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Creuza Silva(mariakreuza@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-05-04T17:25:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 11111ee.pdf: 1402726 bytes, checksum: 47dcda030901a96f687080b863e3c5a0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-04T17:25:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 11111ee.pdf: 1402726 bytes, checksum: 47dcda030901a96f687080b863e3c5a0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Apesar de a peste encontrar-se silente em todo o território brasileiro, seu agente etiológico, a bactéria Yersinia Pestis, permanece firmemente arraigada em seus focos naturais. Desta forma, e tendo em vista a existência de fatores condicionantes, não se pode desconsiderar que a doença, apesar de controlada, continua oferecendo riscos à população. A ocorrência de sorologia positiva para peste em carnívoros domésticos de algumas regiões pestígenas da Bahia nos últimos anos implica na necessidade de uma avaliação mais criteriosa, no intuito de verificar se ainda existe circulação do bacilo pestoso nessas áreas. Analisou-se, neste estudo, a presença de infecção por Y. pestis através do inquérito de soroprevalência em humanos, cães e roedores; e detecção da bactéria em roedores e pool de pulgas. A partir da aplicação de um questionário estruturado avaliou-se a associação existente entre fatores ambientais, sócio-econômicos e biológicos e a soroprevalência da infecção em humanos. Os 630 soros examinados (88 de humanos, 480 de cães, 62 de roedores) apresentaram-se não-reagentes para peste e as análises bacteriológicas realizadas em 14 roedores e 2 pool de pulgas não identificaram a bactéria. No entanto, tais resultados não configuram erradicação da doença no Estado. A natureza cíclica da peste indica que ela pode passar por longos períodos de silêncio e depois ressurgir acometendo um grande número de pessoas. Portanto, a manutenção de uma vigilância ativa e permanente se faz necessária para a detecção precoce da doença e desenvolvimento oportuno das medidas de controle pertinentes. / Salvador

O presente trabalho discute a construção sociotécnica da peste bubônica no Rio de Janeiro de 1897 a 1906. Tem como aporte teórico a teoria do ator-rede e como metodologia o acompanhamento de cientistas, médicos e políticos brasileiros interessados no combate à peste, analisando as polêmicas que se envolveram, e que redes sociotécnicas foram por eles mobilizadas. As fontes utilizadas foram: trabalhos científicos publicados no Brazil-Medico; debates veiculados na imprensa diária e os relatórios da Diretoria Geral de Saúde Pública (DGSP). As principais polêmicas foram em torno do tempo de incubação, letalidade e forma de transmissão da doença. A incubação implicava diretamente no tempo em que os navios ficariam submetidos à quarentena e o Governo Federal acreditava que ela durava 20 dias. Entretanto, pressões exercidas por diferentes atores, como a Associação Comercial de Santos, foram aos poucos mudando essa política e também a compreensão do período de incubação e da letalidade da doença. Em 1904, as quarentenas contra a peste foram extintas no Brasil e era consenso a doença não ser tão letal nem ficar incubada por um período superior a 10 dias. A questão da transmissão implicava diretamente na adoção de medidas sanitárias. Em 1900, o Governo Federal acreditava que a doença era transmitida pelo ar, ou por objetos, por isso a adoção de desinfecção de casas e no isolamento de pessoas contaminadas. Entretanto, em São Paulo, existia outra concepção sobre a transmissão e o extermínio de ratos era a principal medida. No Rio de Janeiro, alguns personagens, como Ismael da Rocha, defendiam a estratégia de São Paulo Com isso, foram estabelecidas duas redes, uma que concedia um papel aos ratos e outra não. A última foi vitoriosa até 1903. Naquela data, Oswaldo Cruz deu inicio a uma campanha de extermínio de ratos, que se mostrou eficaz. Quando os ratos passaram a ser considerados os culpados pela transmissão da doença mudanças ocorreram. As desinfecções passaram a se concentrar nesses animais e se planejou uma reformulação da cidade, com edifícios que vedassem a entrada de ratos e na construção de esgotos. / The present work discusses the socio-technical construction of the bubonic plague in Rio de Janeiro from 1897 to 1906. It has as theoretical support the actor-network theory and as methodology it follows Brazilian scientists, doctors and politicians in their action against the plague, analyzing the controversies in which they were involved and which socio-technical networks were mobilized by them. Sources used were: scientific papers published in Brazil-Medico, debates published in the daily press and reports from the General Direction of Public Health (Diretoria Geral de Saúde Pública DGSP). The main controversies were around the incubation time, lethality and method of transmission of the disease. Incubation affected directly the amount of days ships would be submitted to quarantine and the Federal Government believed that it lasted 20 days. However, pressure exerted by different actors, such as the Santos Commercial Association, were slowly changing this politic and also the understanding regarding the incubation period and the diseases lethality. In 1904, quarantines against the plague were extinguished from Brazil and it became a consensus that this disease wasnt very lethal and that the incubation time wasnt superior to 10 days. The matter of transmission implied different sanitary actions. In 1900, the Federal Government believed that the disease was transmitted through air or by objects, and therefore adopted actions such as house disinfection and isolation of contaminated people. However, in São Paulo, there was another conception regarding transmission, with the killing of rats being the main sanitary action. In Rio de Janeiro, some characters, such as Ismael da Rocha, were in favor of São Paulos initiative. Therefore, two networks were established, one where rats had an important part and another where they didnt. This last network was victorious until 1903. At that time, Oswaldo Cruz began a rat-killing campaign, which proved to be effective. When rats were considered as responsible for the transmission of the disease, different changes occurred. Disinfections became focused on this animals and a renovation of the city plan was done, with buildings that sealed the entrance of rats and the construction of sewers.

M.A. / Two species of multimammate mouse, Mastomys coucha and M. natalensis are common, and widely distributed in southern Africa, occurring sympatrically in some areas, and allopatrically in others. The limits of their distribution are only provisional so far. As they share a high degree of morphological similarity, they are, as yet, impossible to identify with certainty in the field. Each species of multimammate mouse carries important diseases: with M. coucha being a carrier for the bacterium causing plague, and M. natalensis carrying the virus causing Lassa fever. In many areas, multimammate mice, being highly adaptable and ecological generalists, have become co-habitants with humans. This fact, coupled to the medical significance of both species, lends importance to being able to identify each species where it occurs, especially in areas where they occur sympatrically. Thus, a total of 40 specimens of M. natalensis were trapped from Richards Bay and La Lucia ridge in KwaZulu-Natal, and 43 specimens of M. coucha from Montgomery Park in Johannesburg and from the shores of the Vaal Dam in the Free State with the aim of comparing these two species via gel electrophoresis. These specimens were from allopatric populations from the centres of their provisional distributions. It was expected that there would be genetic differences between the two sibling species. Blood, liver, and muscle samples were taken, either in the field from dead specimens caught in snap-traps, or back in the laboratory from live-trapped specimens. Fifteen proteins or enzymes provided interpretable results at a total of 39 loci. Nineteen of these were polymorphic

Yesinia pestis est l'agent de la peste, maladie infectieuse spontanément mortelle, et une bactérie classée parmi les agents de bioterrorisme de groupe A [http://www.bt.cd.gov/agent/plague]. Les cas sporadiques ont été rapportés dans plusieurs pays d'Asie, d'Afrique, et d'Amérique et la peste reste endémique en Afrique (République Démocratique du Congo; Madagascar) qui déclare le plus grand nombre de cas annuels. La majorité de cas de peste chez les humains et les animaux sauvages se manifeste dans les régions délimitées géographiquement et appelées communément les foyers de la peste. Les mécanismes de la résistance de la peste dans le sol des foyers reste de nos jours un sujet de recherche alors que la peste est maintenant considérée comme une maladie re-émergente. Au cours de notre travail, nous avons développé un outil pour l'identification de Y. pestis par spectrométrie de masse MALDI-TOF MS. Cette méthode s'est avérée très simple et efficace pour l'identification au niveau des espèces, et constitue une méthode de première ligne d'identification. Nous avons ensuite montré que Y. pestis survivait et maintenait sa virulence pendant au moins neuf mois dans le sol stérilisé par la vapeur et humidifié, dépourvu d'éléments nutritifs ajoutés et d'invertébrés du sol. Afin de contribuer à l'étude de l'épidémiologie de la peste, nous avons démontré que seul le biovar Oriantalis est transmis dans un modèle animal par les poux d'homme (Pediculus humanus), les biovars Antiqua et Medievalis de Y. pestis n'étant pas transmissibles par les poux de corps. Le mécanisme impliqué dans la transmission de la peste par les poux de corps reste inconnu, ce qui voudrait dire que le mécanisme de l'adaptation de Y. pestis Orientalis à des nouveaux vecteurs qui sont corrélés aux circonstances de l'épidémie mortelle provoquée par la peste bubonique, reste aussi inconnu. Au cours d'un dernier travail, nous avons étudié des nouveaux composés pour la prophylaxie de la peste. Notamment, nous avons évalué le potentiel du lovastatine dans la prévention de la mortalité pendant la peste. Il a été démontré sur un modèle d'expérimentation avec les souris que la lovastatine réduisait considérablement le taux de mortalité associée à la peste. Toutes les données que nous avons rapportées dans ce rapport de thèse sont destinées à mieux comprendre le cycle épidémiologique de la peste. / Yersinia pestis is the agent of deadly plague and a bacterium listed in the group A of potential bioterrorism agents [http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/plague/]. Sporadic cases are reported in several countries in Asia, Africa and America. Majority of human plague cases and enzootic animals occur in the geographical areas of so-called plague foci. The mechanisms sustaining geographical foci of plague remain poorly understood and plague been classified as a currently re-emerging disease. As first step, we established new front line tool for Y. pestis identification by using MALDI-TOF MS. This method was demonstrated to be simple and effective for Y. pestis identification at species level. Second step, we demonstrated that Y. pestis survived fully virulent for at least 9 months in a steam sterilized, humidified soil devoid of any nutritional supplements or any soil invertebrates. In third step we successfully demonstrated that the human louse (Pediculus humanus) as vector of plague and the body lice transmission of plague was restricted to Orientalis biovar; Antiqua and Medievalis biovars of Y. pestis were not able to transmit by body lice. This result shows that a un- explained mechanism is involved in the body lice transmission of plague and Y. pestis Orientalis adaptation to newly described vectors which effectively correlates the mass death caused by bubonic plague in Black Death individuals. Finally we conclude our study by exploring new compounds for the plague prophylaxis. The potential role of lovastatin in the prevention of mortality during plague was assessed. Lovastatin could significantly reduce the mortality associated with plague in an experimental mouse model. All These data herein we reported in our study may help to better understanding the epidemiology of plague.