Trachoma
Original title: Tracoma
Short medical entry on trachoma, noted as frequent in Paul do Mar, citing Dr Fortunato Pita's 1923 article on treating it with sunlight.
This is the name given to certain whitish granulations that sometimes appear on the conjunctiva. These granulations, Dr Alfredo Ernesto Rodrigues, a specialist in diseases of the eye, tells us, occur very frequently among people from Paul do Mar (‘marsh by the sea’). The respected Funchal physician Dr Fortunato Pita wrote an interesting article in Medicina contemporânea (Year XLI, issue of 21 January 1923) entitled O Tratamento da conjuntivite trachomatosa pela heliotherapia, in which we read the following: ‘The sun is applied in the morning, either every day or not, according to circumstances, the exposure lasting from 1 to 2 minutes, more or less (1921).
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 01
- Paul do Mar
Calheta. Trachoma was reported to be very frequent among its inhabitants.
Paul do Mar is a parish on Madeira's south-west coast, created in 1676 from Estreito da Calheta. It is a fishing port watered by the old Rabaçal levada, where malvasia is grown and trachoma was reported to be very frequent. It had the Santo António fortress, a band, and salt works from about 1865 that were later abandoned for lack of profit.
People
People mentioned · 02-
Eye specialist who informed the Elucidário that trachoma was common among people of Paul do Mar.
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Funchal physician who wrote a 1923 article in Medicina Contemporânea on treating trachomatous conjunctivitis with heliotherapy.