HEALTH INTERVENTIONS AGAINST THE SMALLPOX DURING THE TWO EPIDEMICS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY IN FERRARA (ITALY)

Health interventions against the smallpox during the two epidemics of the second half of the 19th Century were outlined. In the Statistical health reports of Alessandro Bennati S. Anna Hospital and S.M Consolazione Lazaretto data were reported (1871 and 1891-1892), together with very interesting matter about the cures and remedies of the time. The treatment of this illness couldn't be and was nothing else but symptomatic, as there wasn't a real cure to stop it in fact. It was rather possible to find other remedies by alleviating pain and regaining energy during the various stages of the disease. A certain relationship between the vaccination and the gravity of the illness was underlined. When the practice of vaccination started to be widely employed, there were almost zero cases of death at the end of the century. The pharmacopoeias of the time, Antonio Campana's Farmacopea ferrarese in particular, resulted as essential guidelines in the analysis of each document