Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1354

FRANCESCO ANTOMMARCHI (1780-1838) Mémoire et observations sur le choléra-morbus régnant à Varsovie. Barrois l'aîné 1831 36 pp., 7 tables. 20.7 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 1353

Asiatic cholera, normally endemic to southern Asia, reached pandemic proportions several times during the nineteenth century and took many lives throughout the world. The first pandemic that spread around the world began in 1829 and recurred at intervals through 1852. In 1832 the pandemic reached North America from Europe, moved rapidly along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States, and by 1834 had reached the Pacific coast. Since the bacterial cause of cholera was not identified until the latter part of the nineteenth century, it was many years before it was possible to implement effective therapies and realistic policies for controlling the disease. Antommarchi accepted an invitation from the Polish government to become inspector-general of their military hospitals in May 1831, soon after cholera had arrived in Warsaw. He prepared the present report on the symptoms, treatment, and effects of the disease later that year. Detailed statistical tables for the military hospitals he surveyed cover the period from July through early September. Antommarchi's report is one of several treatises on cholera included in this volume. The works were published between 1831 and 1855 and range from treatises on the symptoms and treatment of the disease to reports on its effects in Europe and the United States.