For whom the bell tolled De Ambrogi, Marco
The Lancet infectious diseases,
January 2019, 2019-01-00, 20190101, Letnik:
19, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In the documentary, a panel of commentators, including several art historians, actress and model Lily Cole, and pop singer Iggy Pop, share their impressions on Schiele. After he was put on trial and ...condemned to a short spell in prison for public indecency, when some of his nude paintings were found hanging in his studio where local children could come and go, he used that negative fame to expand his market, this time portraying more mature women. Reflecting on one of the most controversial figures of modern art, Egon Schiele: dangerous desires is an interesting exploration of the reasons why Schiele remains a divisive artist to this very day and how his legacy has affected following generations, even outside painting.
It is very exceptional that a new disease becomes a true pandemic. Since its emergence in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that ...causes COVID-19, has spread to nearly all countries of the world in only a few months. However, in different countries, the COVID-19 epidemic takes variable shapes and forms in how it affects communities. Until now, the insights gained on COVID-19 have been largely dominated by the COVID-19 epidemics and the lockdowns in China, Europe and the USA. But this variety of global trajectories is little described, analysed or understood. In only a few months, an enormous amount of scientific evidence on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 has been uncovered (knowns). But important knowledge gaps remain (unknowns). Learning from the variety of ways the COVID-19 epidemic is unfolding across the globe can potentially contribute to solving the COVID-19 puzzle. This paper tries to make sense of this variability—by exploring the important role that context plays in these different COVID-19 epidemics; by comparing COVID-19 epidemics with other respiratory diseases, including other coronaviruses that circulate continuously; and by highlighting the critical unknowns and uncertainties that remain. These unknowns and uncertainties require a deeper understanding of the variable trajectories of COVID-19. Unravelling them will be important for discerning potential future scenarios, such as the first wave in virgin territories still untouched by COVID-19 and for future waves elsewhere.
This article analyzes the reactions of Catholics linked to lay associations in the city of Salvador, in the period of the Spanish flu (1918) and smallpox (1919). Newspapers were the main sources used ...to identify the festivals and rites, both those practiced to ask for the intercession of the saints, and those that were suspended due to the need for social isolation. In spite of both diseases being transmissible and the short interval between the two epidemics, the analysis of the sources showed different reactions from the faithful regarding the measures of protection and the search for a cure.
The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is having negative health, social and economic consequences ...worldwide. In Europe, the pandemic started to develop strongly at the end of February and beginning of March 2020. Subsequently, it spread over the continent, with special virulence in northern Italy and inland Spain. In this study we show that an unusual persistent anticyclonic situation prevailing in southwestern Europe during February 2020 (i.e. anomalously strong positive phase of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillations) could have resulted in favorable conditions, e.g., in terms of air temperature and humidity among other factors, in Italy and Spain for a quicker spread of the virus compared with the rest of the European countries. It seems plausible that the strong atmospheric stability and associated dry conditions that dominated in these regions may have favored the virus propagation, both outdoors and especially indoors, by short-range droplet and aerosol (airborne) transmission, or/and by changing social contact patterns. Later recent atmospheric circulation conditions in Europe (July 2020) and the U.S. (October 2020) seem to support our hypothesis, although further research is needed in order to evaluate other confounding variables. Interestingly, the atmospheric conditions during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 seem to have resembled at some stage with the current COVID-19 pandemic.
•First study to explore the effects of large-scale atmospheric patterns on COVID-19.•Anticyclonic conditions could have favored early spread of COVID-19 over Europe.•Transmission by droplets and/or aerosols, and social contact could be enhanced.•Resemblances with spatial and atmospheric conditions during the 1918 Spanish flu.
Recent studies argue that major crises can have long‐lasting effects on individual behavior. While most studies focused on natural disasters, we explore the consequences of the global pandemic caused ...by a lethal influenza virus in 1918–19: the so‐called “Spanish Flu.” This was by far the worst pandemic of modern history, causing up to 100 million deaths worldwide. Using information about attitudes of respondents to the General Social Survey, we find evidence that experiencing the pandemic likely had permanent consequences in terms of individuals' social trust. Our findings suggest that lower social trust was passed on to the descendants of the survivors of the Spanish Flu who migrated to the United States. As trust is a crucial factor for long‐term economic development, our research offers a new angle from which to assess current health threats.
Evidence linking past experiences of worsening health with support for radical political views has generated concerns about the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The influenza pandemic that ...began in 1918 had a devastating health impact: 4.1 million Italians contracted influenza and about 500 000 died. We tested the hypothesis that deaths from the 1918 influenza pandemic contributed to the rise of Fascism in Italy. To provide a "thicker" interpretation of these patterns, we applied historical text mining to the newspaper
(Mussolini's newspaper). Our observations were consistent with evidence from other contexts that worsening mortality rates can fuel radical politics. Unequal impacts of pandemics may contribute to political polarization. (
. 2022;112(2):242-247. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306574).
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