Academic literature on the topic 'Miasmatic theory'

Background The aim of this study is to distinguish repertory rubrics where at least one miasm has a significantly higher prevalence amongst the remedies included. Methods Sankaran's 10 miasm classification has been used where each remedy belongs only to one miasm. In this study, 14,486 rubrics from Schroyens ‘synthesis’ repertory were included; each one has 11 remedies at least. Pearson's chi-square test was applied to each rubric comparing the observed distribution of remedies amongst miasms to the expected one (based on the distribution of remedies amongst the whole population of rubrics). Results Total 536 rubrics were identified to be significantly different regarding the observed count of remedies in each miasm compared with the expected one. Conclusions Some of the ‘miasmatic rubrics’ identified refer to symptoms closely related to the miasm definitions and some of them do not. The latter category can give us more insight into the concept of each miasm by associating it with symptoms not currently included in miasmatic theory.

AbstractThe roots of cyclical remedy analysis within traditional Chinese medicine's Five Phases theory are introduced. Relevance for clinical practice including illness interpretation, preventive application via a self-diagnosis mandala, and a more coherent understanding of the five original miasms (expressing five core existential dilemmas) are explained. This article presents a case illustration of anorexia nervosa and an analysis of three conditions: Alzheimer's disease, cancer of the breast, and cancer of the large intestine.

Few afflictions have attracted as much attention and impacted on as many societal and biomedical areas as cholera. Dr. John Snow's studies launched the field of epidemiology, were early applications of medical cartography, and promoted the use of statistical methods in medicine. The finding that cholera was due to the ingestion of contaminated water lent to the demise of the prevalent “miasmatic theory of contagion,” set the platform for the “germ theory of disease,” and promoted the growth of public health concerns for water purification and sanitation. More recent attention to this disease led to the notion of “secretory diarrhea” and the translation of basic principles to the development of oral rehydration therapy and its “spin-offs” (Gatorade and Pedilyte).

Introduction In addition to the four pillars of homeopathy, vitalism and the miasmatic theory are often used to explain the health–disease process. According to Hahnemann's concepts, homeopathic miasms are the main obstacle to the cure of chronic diseases, with psora being the fundamental cause of all forms of diseases. According to modern genetics, the disease-promoting epigenetic alterations are the fundamental cause of the manifestation of chronic diseases. Objective This article develops a philosophical–scientific correlation between chronic miasms and disease-promoting epigenetic modifications, aiming to justify the isopathic use of auto-sarcode of an individual's DNA as homeopathic medicine. Results Based on the study of homeopathic doctrine and epigenetics, a conceptual and functional correlation is observed between homeopathic chronic miasms and disease-promoting epigenetic modifications. Additionally, several experimental studies suggest that homeopathy's mechanism of action may be by modulating gene expression. Conclusions By the philosophical–scientific correlations described, it is inferred that disease-promoting epigenetic alterations are the biological representation of the chronic miasms, suggesting the isopathic use of auto-sarcode of DNA as homeopathic therapeutic modulator of gene expression for the management of chronic diseases.

Medical mapping is broadly assumed to have been a nineteenth century reaction both to the appearance of cholera and the social consciousness of principally British reformers. It is however older, more embedded in the scientific enterprise than the social critique, and in the end, more central to both than researchers typically recognize. This paper argues that medical mapping was from its start in the late 1600s principally a tool for the self-conscious testing of spatial propositions, arguing a relationship between health and place, and between the locus of specific disease incidence and suspected sites of local infectious generation. Through the nineteenth century the resulting work--social and medical— typically advanced a miasmatic theory that argued that infectious diseases were generated spontaneously and diffused naturally through the air. This paper reviews the history of medical cartography as a scientific enterprise in the age of miasma, and the importance of this work to social reformers as an outcome rather than a principal impetus to mapping as a critical tool.

AbstractIn this paper we examine whether discourses of tropicality were affected by paradigm shifts in Western thinking about medicine. If tropicalist thinking reflects latent Western assumptions about the 'Other', tropicalism should persist through major shifts in Western thought. Here we explore whether or not such persistence is evident in representations in the scientific literature of mosquito-borne diseases on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion and where discrete epidemics occurred before, during and after a paradigm shift in Western thinking about disease causation. Late in the 19th Century, miasma theory (epidemics caused by unhealthy air) was replaced by microbial theory (epidemics caused by transmission of microbes) as the dominant scientific understanding of disease causation. We analyse representations of mosquito-borne epidemics in the contemporaneous scientific literature about Réunion for evidence of both tropicalism and a shift in the scientific paradigm. In pre-microbial representations, the unhealthy tropical environments thought to be responsible for miasmatic disease transmission are associated predominantly with the non-white population; in microbial representations non-whites are directly blamed for the spread of tropical infections. The paper argues that the persistence of tropicalist thinking through a major paradigm shift in the Western understanding of disease causation supports Said's (1979) contention that 'Othering' is a generalisable ahistorical phenomenon, and discusses issues of economic exigency that may have supported an ongoing tropicalist influence on public health practice in French overseas departments.

Abstract This paper explores the relation between the »Black Death« and the persecutions of Jews in the mid-14th century. At first glance, it may come as a surprise that pogroms never took place during an outbreak (as some black legends claim). They were a phenomenon which occurred, typically, before or (seldom) after a plague. When everyone had to reckon with the deadly danger, the charge of well-poisoning, which had a long and fatal tradition, moved to the centre again, accompanied by other incriminations of Jews. Having been of more theoretical (or magic) importance before then, the terrible accusation now seemed to be justified more than ever by the medical theory that poisoned water could cause »miasmata«. The general anxiety, described excellently by Petrarch and other contemporaries, provided an ideal playground for fanatics and zealots who tried to convince people of the validity of such assumptions. It is therefore no wonder that the number of pogroms increased dramatically in 1348/49. They were promoted by the tactics of the emperor who sold his profitable role as a »protector of the Jews« increasingly to the »Imperial Free Cities«. In many towns the Black Death was preceded (or sometimes followed) by anti-Jewish massacres that were instigated by anti-Jewish writings and pamphlets. Only a general crisis of mentality and widespread moral decadence made this possible. The solid financial interests of certain groups of society seem also to have played an important role. Nevertheless, we have to admit that these medieval persecutions have left many questions open - to this day.

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A geographical and historical analysis of helth-environment relation applied to the urban space of São Luis between 1854 and 1954, the main purpose is to discuss the binomial health-environment since the origin of Health Geography, showing how its presuppositions had been linked to the images of the maranhense environment and to the urban growth of São Luís, attending the economical priority of the social actors who investigated the urban diseases, The dialectic method of abordage and the historical procedure method were used, justapoing the qualitative aborgade through data interpretation, in the analysis of the contents of the researched texts, The origin and the development of the urban space as source of epidemic and endemic diseases are discussed, observing that the historical records indicate that this space was considered unhealthy, mainly, because of the populational concentration and because of the lack of basic infra-structure. As corollary of the insalubrity of the urban environment, the first sanitary rules were applied and regulated the use of it. The urban space is taken as an object to be medicated. As a scientific landmark to Health Geography of Maranhão it is considered the doctorate thesis Climate and most frequent diseases of the province of Maranhão , by César Augusto Marques, a doctor from Maranhão, presented in 1854. The historical aspects of the miasmatic and microbian theories are rescued, contextualizing in what way both of them gave priority or not to the relation health and envrironment, and their applicability to the movement of hygienist intervention of the urban space. From that dicussion it is done an analysis in which periods the miasmatic and microbian theories served as theorethical support to treat and attend the disorderly growth of the urban space of São Luís, and yet to discuss how the relation health-environment was priviledged and/or excluded in the actions of sanitary care which regulated the us and occupation of the same space. In spite of its theorethical and scientific restrictions, it is confirmed that the miasmatic theory was observed in the relation health and urban environment; as basic presupposition in the mitigating measures in promoting health, giving priority to the multicausality of factors vision which interfere in the population s health. The microbian theory, despite of contextualizing at first the relation health and urban environment of São Luís, gave more priority to the unicausality vision between the pathogenic agents and man.
O estudo faz uma análise geográfica e histórica da relação saúde-ambiente aplicada ao espaço urbano de São Luís, no recorte temporal de 1854 a 1954, e tem como principal escopo discutir o binômio saúde-ambiente a partir da origem da Geografia da Saúde e de que forma os seus pressupostos estiveram atrelados as imagens do ambiente maranhense e ao crescimento urbano de São Luís; atendendo assim as prioridades econômicas dos atores sociais que investigaram as doenças urbanas. Aplicou-se o método de abordagem dialético e método de procedimento histórico, justapondo-se a abordagem qualitativa através da interpretação dos dados, na análise de conteúdo dos textos pesquisados. Disserta-se sobre a origem e o desenvolvimento do espaço urbano como foco de doenças epidêmicas e endêmicas, observando que os registros históricos indicaram que esse espaço foi considerado insalubre, principalmente, em decorrência da concentração populacional e na ausência de infra-estrutura básica. Como corolário da insalubridade dos ambientes urbanos, as primeiras normas sanitárias foram aplicadas e disciplinaram o uso do mesmo. O espaço urbano passa a ser considerado um objeto a ser medicado. Como marco cientifico para a Geografia da Saúde no Maranhão considera-se a tese de doutorado Clima e moléstias mais freqüentes na província do Maranhão , de Augusto César Marques, médico maranhense, defendida em 1854.Resgata-se a historicidade das teorias miasmática e microbiana, contextualizando-as de que forma ambas priorizaram ou não a relação saúde e ambiente, e sua aplicabilidade junto ao movimento de intervenção higienista do espaço urbano.A partir dessa discussão analisa-se em quais períodos a teoria miasmática e microbiana serviram como suporte teórico para medicar e acompanhar o crescimento desordenado do espaço urbano de São Luís, e ainda discutir como a relação saúde e ambiente foi privilegiada e/ou excluída nas ações de cunho sanitarista que disciplinaram o uso e ocupação do mesmo espaço. Confirma-se, que apesar de suas restrições teóricas e científicas, a teoria miasmática foi observada na relação saúde e ambiente urbano; como pressuposto básico nas medidas mitigadoras em promover a saúde, priorizando a visão da multicausalidade de fatores que interferem na saúde da população. A teoria microbiana, apesar de contextualizar inicialmente a relação entre a saúde e o ambiente urbano de São Luís, priorizou mais a visão da unicausalidade entre os agentes patogênicos e o homem.