title: [Treatment and remedies against smallpox outbreaks in Ferrara in the late nineteenth century].
abstract: Health interventions against smallpox during the two epidemics in the second half of the 19th century are outlined. The 1871 hospital health report and the medical report on smallpox patients treated at the hospital and poorhouse of Ferrara between January 1891 and January 1892, drawn up by Alessandro Bennati, provide both interesting data and insights into the treatments and remedies of the time. The treatment of this illness was - and indeed could be - nothing other than symptomatic, there being no real means to halt the spread of the disease. Rather, other remedies were found by alleviating pain and regaining energy during the various stages of the disease. A close relationship between vaccination and the incidence and gravity of the illness is underlined. When the practice of vaccination started to be widely employed at the end of the century, there were almost no cases of death due to smallpox. The pharmacopoeias of the time, Antonio Campana's Farmacopea ferrarese in particular, proved an essential guide in the analysis of each document.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biotecnologie; Ambrosialab srl; Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche, Sezione di Igiene e Profilassi; Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche, Sezione di Malattie Infettive, Universita di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara Beatrice
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Vicentini
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manfredini
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Altieri
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lupi
authors.forename: Enrica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guidi
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Contini
mesh_terms: D001877:Books / Q000266:history; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000266:history* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006761:Hospitals / Q000266:history; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D010602:Pharmacopoeias as Topic / Q000266:history; D011634:Public Health / Q000266:history; D012899:Smallpox / Q000266:history* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D012900:Smallpox Vaccine / Q000266:history*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D012900:Smallpox Vaccine