The Pasteur hospital as an element of Emile Roux's anti-diphtheria apparatus (1890-1914)

Before the decisive discovery by Gaston Ramon of a vaccine («anatoxine diphtérique») in 1923, the fight against diphtheria in France had started in 1894 with the serotherapy approach of Martin and Roux. Emile Roux, director of the Institut Pasteur, developed a dynamic concept of research/production/application expressed in the organization of a specialized hospital, the Hôpital Pasteur, which was constructed near the research laboratories and also incorporated production centres outside Paris in Marnes-la-Coquette. Roux implemented a well-defined project against diphtheria that took account of all of the logistical implications. By associating this therapeutic project with an architectural project, Roux established a coherent anti-diphtheria apparatus

Les maladies parasitaires : observation, savoir, paysages (1880-1940)

Annick Opinel, responsable du Centre de recherches historiques, Institut Pasteur L’acquisition du savoir sur les maladies parasitaires entre la fin du XIXe siècle et le premier tiers du XXe siècle constituait le sujet de ces conférences. Le premier cours consistait en une introduction du propos et une définition du sujet, c’est-à-dire la structure même de la nouvelle science constituée autour de ce savoir. Il était en effet indispensable de prendre, dès le premier cours, la mesure de la natur..

Le clinicien et le peintre au XIXe siècle

Au XIXe siècle, l'enseignement clinique se déplace de la faculté vers l'hôpital, instaurant une complémentarité définitive de ces deux systèmes. La formation médicale est à ce prix, quelquefois au détriment du patient lui-même qui devient un cas d'école. Les nouveaux héros sont les professeurs hospitaliers, admirés à la fois des étudiants et des malades. Les peintres, attentifs à l'évolution sociale, s'attachent à représenter cette nouvelle caste de mandarins à partir de 1850. Les leçons de clinique donnent lieu à des portraits collectifs autour du cadavre avec, dans le rôle du docteur Tulp de Rembrandt, Bouillaud ou Velpeau. La leçon de clinique au chevet du malade est aussi le lieu de portraits, souvent mondains. Ainsi les deux peintures emblématiques de ce genre, exposées toutes deux au Salon de 1887 : Avant l'opération ou Le docteur Péan enseignant à l'hôpital Saint-Louis sa découverte du pincement des vaisseaux de Gervex et Une leçon de clinique à la Salpêtrière de Brouillet. Le clinicien y est portraituré, ainsi que le malade et les étudiants mais aussi les amis. C'est ainsi que les salles d'hôpital ou d'opération peuvent accueillir un journaliste, un critique d'art, un compositeur de musique ou un fabriquant d'instruments chirurgicaux. Le genre évolue néanmoins dans le dernier quart du siècle et la représentation médicale, entrant dans les mœurs artistiques, s'attache au quotidien. Il n'est plus utile d'être un grand médecin, chirurgien ou biologiste pour avoir les honneurs de la cimaise.In the Nineteenth Century, clinical instruction moved from the academic to the hospital setting, inaugurating a complementary relationship between the two systems. Medical training paid the price, sometimes to the detriment of patients who became training topics. Professors in teaching hospitals became the new heroes, admired by patients and students alike. After 1850, ever attentive to social evolution, painters attempted to represent this new cast of Mandarins. Clinical instruction occasioned collective portraits with subjects grouped around a cadaver, a Brouillaud or a Velpeau cast in the role of Rembrandt's Dr. Tulp. Likewise lessons at the foot of a patient's bed provided the setting for fashionable portraits. Displayed at the Salon of 1887, the two emblematic portraits of this genre were Gervex's Before the Operation or Dr. Péan Teaching his Discovery of Vessel Constriction at the St. Louis Hospital and Brouillet's A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière. Clinician and patient are portrayed, as well as some friends. Hospital or operating rooms could accommodate visits from a journalist, an art critic, a composer of music, or a manufacturer of surgical instruments. Nevertheless, the genre evolved in the last quarter of the century and medical images became part of the depiction of everyday life. No longer must one be a great doctor, surgeon, or biologist to be enshrined in a portrait

The Pasteur hospital as an element of Emile Roux's anti-diphtheria apparatus (1890-1914)

Before the decisive discovery by Gaston Ramon of a vaccine («anatoxine diphtérique») in 1923, the fight against diphtheria in France had started in 1894 with the serotherapy approach of Martin and Roux. Emile Roux, director of the Institut Pasteur, developed a dynamic concept of research/production/application expressed in the organization of a specialized hospital, the Hôpital Pasteur, which was constructed near the research laboratories and also incorporated production centres outside Paris in Marnes-la-Coquette. Roux implemented a well-defined project against diphtheria that took account of all of the logistical implications. By associating this therapeutic project with an architectural project, Roux established a coherent anti-diphtheria apparatus

Malaria epidemics in Europe after the First World War: the early stages of an international approach to the control of the disease

The severity and endemicity of malaria declined gradually in Europe until WWI. During and after the war, the number of malaria cases increased substantially and peaked in 1922-1924. This prompted the Hygiene Commission of the League of Nations to establish a Malaria Commission in 1923 to define the most efficient anti-malaria procedures. Additionally, between 1924 and 1930 there were several international meetings and collaborations concerning malaria, which involved the main institutes of parasitology and the Rockefeller Foundation. The Commission reports, the guidelines for anti-malaria campaigns and the scientific programs which came out of these meetings and collaborations are analyzed in the present paper

Evidence and strategies for malaria prevention and control: a historical analysis

Public health strategies for malaria in endemic countries aim to prevent transmission of the disease and control the vector. This historical analysis considers the strategies for vector control developed during the first four decades of the twentieth century. In 1925, policies and technological advances were debated internationally for the first time after the outbreak of malaria in Europe which followed World War I. This dialogue had implications for policies in Europe, Russia and the Middle East, and influenced the broader international control agenda. The analysis draws on the advances made before 1930, and includes the effects of mosquito-proofing of houses; the use of larvicides (Paris Green) and larvivorous fish (Gambusia); the role of large-scale engineering works; and the emergence of biological approaches to malaria. The importance of strong government and civil servant support was outlined. Despite best efforts of public health authorities, it became clear that it was notoriously difficult to interrupt transmission in areas of moderately high transmission. The importance of combining a variety of measures to achieve control became clear and proved successful in Palestine between 1923 and 1925, and improved education, economic circumstances and sustained political commitment emerge as key factors in the longer term control of malaria. The analysis shows that the principles for many of the present public health strategies for malaria have nearly all been defined before 1930, apart from large scale usage of pesticides, which came later at the end of the Second World War. No single intervention provided an effective single answer to preventing transmission, but certainly approaches taken that are locally relevant and applied in combination, are relevant to today’s efforts at elimination