Clinical case histories and post mortem reports from the Malta lazzaretto in the 18th century

Abstract

The theme of this paper derives from the unpublished manuscript records of the Registers of Ships arriving in Maltese ports and held in quarantine from 1739 to 1801 i . Clinical case histories from other contemporary hospitals - the Holy Infirmary and the Women's Hospital at Valletta, Santo Spirito Hospital at Rabat (Malta) and the Gozo Hospital - have not been met with. The Lazzaretto case histories are the only ones that have reached us and, wanting as they are in details of their contents, they constitute the only means of improving our knowledge of the pattern of disease III Malta two hundred years ago. They occur in the form of entries written by the attuario dell' Officio della Sanitd di Malta or Registrar of the Sanitary Commissioners whose office was at the Barriera at Valletta2. The attuario was a layman and it is likely that what he wrote was dictated to him by the barberotto (barber-surgeon) or by the physician attending the case; or, occasionally, by the protomedico or Chief Government Physician examining the patient.