Chile-Italy a Historicist View of Pandemics and Epidemics: What are the Lessons we Must Learn? A Scoping Review Article

Abstract

Background: Since the dawn of humanity, the human species has faced various epidemics that have decimated its population. Various causes have given rise to these epidemics, whether it is population growth, overcrowding, lack of services and basic hygiene supplies, wars, and famines, all have contributed in one way or another to the start of a pandemic. Understanding the phenomena and events that occurred in the past will allow us to understand our present and project ourselves toward our future. Objective: The present study undertakes a scoping review of research Explain and demonstrate the main management of the largest pandemics in the history of medicine, exemplifying through the case of the management of the cholera pandemic in Chile and Italy. Design: Online databases were used to identify papers published 1956-2021, from which 3425 we selected 30 publications from Chile, Italy, United Kingdom, the United States, that used the measures and epidemiological indicators as a primary or secondary outcome variable in studies that detail the managements and mortality, lethality, R0 and history of pandemics and epidemics. Results: The majority of publications (33%) reported secondary historic studies while 40% examined primary historic resources and 27% correspond to gray literature (reports, newspaper, editor letters, etc...). All but one of the studies collected measured data. Overall, 84% of the publications examined measures to fight against the pandemics. Those examining focused on. While most (66%) reported 1 or more epidemiological indicators and paleo-biological evidence. Evaluated using a customized quality assessment instrument, 26% of studies achieved an “A” quality ranking, while 18 and 39% achieved quality rankings of “B” and “C”, respectively. Conclusions: While the quality of studies is generally middle, research on systematic study of the history of medicine and pandemics will enable us to prevent and be better prepared for, and ideally anticipate, the emergence of new viral, bacterial, and protozoan variants, in the context of humans as part of a planetary ecosystem.