Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

The physicians of the Bukhtishu dynasty first entered the Abbasi court with the aim of practicing medicine; but soon after, thanks to their medical knowledge and skills, they gained a lot of power and wealth and became involved in power relations at court. Although they were able to gain a high position in the Abbasid court; but their position was constantly unstable, and sometimes they were at the peak of power and sometimes at the bottom of humiliation. Therefore, the present study, with a historical method and a descriptive-analytical approach, seeks to answer the question: what factors have been effective on the relationship between the physicians of the Bukhtishu dynasty and the Abbasid Caliphate? The claim of the research is that the need of the caliphs for treatment provided the background for the entry of the doctors of Bukhtishu dynasty to the caliphate system and strengthened their presence in the court. Factors such as the success of these physicians in medicine, the power of the caliphs in supporting them; other threats from courtiers also fluctuated the status of these physicians. The findings of the study indicate that physicians with the benefit of medical knowledge had such an effect on the caliphs that they were considered as one of the main actors in politics, so they play an important role in the removal and installation of caliphs, poisoning and killing of them. They could pave the way for their conditioned person to come to power by abandoning their treatment; they were also degraded, imprisoned, and sometimes exiled or even killed. 

This study seeks to identify one of the pioneers of traditional clinical medicine named Abdullah Azdi and his medical dictionary. This research is an analytical study. The focus of the search was on two keywords, Abdullah Azdi and Kitab al-Ma'ma, but the scope of the search included all appropriate terms such as: medicine, Bu Ali Sina, traditional medicine, medical dictionary, ethics, and medical law. Data were collected and analyzed using comprehensive library software (version one), Islamic History Library, Islamic Iran History and reputable national and international centers. The main purpose of the forthcoming research, on the one hand, is to identify and introduce points about life and beliefs, as well as Abdullah Azdi's specialized knowledge in the field of medicine, and on the other hand, to introduce his book, which is in fact a dictionary called "Kitab al-Ma'a". The researches of this research show that Abdullah Azdi was one of the students of Ibn Sina and the companion of Abu Rihan al-Biruni. In addition of being expert in clinical medicine, he was an ethical and professional physician and in every part of his book, he observes the Shari'a. The use of specialized medical terms indicates that he was surrounded by medical knowledge.

The purpose of this study was to perform a narrative review and documentary research in the history of community medicine specialty formation and the needs for its existence in health systems. We searched and reviewed related literature and documents in English and or Farsi (printed or online). Data was extracted and findings were categorized, summarized, and reported. About a century ago community medicine specialty was formed to respond to major health challenges of that time such as neglecting the effects of social determinants on populations’ health and total separation between clinical care and public health. Community medicine professionals are able to address many of the current health problems such as inequalities in health, fair financing problems, increasing demands and costs and disease-based health system approaches. They can be the leading advocates to emphasize the importance of social determinants in health of populations. They can promote communications with influencing institutions outside the health system to improve the health of the communities. This discipline can pave the way for the health systems to tackle the most important contemporary health challenges. Lack of attention to this discipline may hinder the achievement of sustainable development goals and health promotion of the communities. More support from officials and utilizing the skills of community medicine specialists can help health systems not only to better respond to the health needs of the society but also to facilitate the achievement of their main goals.

The issue of disease in the context of history has always been one of the concerns of the wise man. In accordance with the intellectual system of each period of history, various diseases have been identified and prevention and treatment strategies have been presented. The identification of some diseases, including the flu, goes back to a new era. The use of the word "flu" first occurred in the Qajar era. Because it is new and unknown, the group of physicians, as the person in charge of health matters, needed to know about this disease and define and explain it. The purpose of this study as a historical-review study, in the first step is to study the history of the prevalence of this disease in Iran and the process of recognizing it through the available information sources in the Qajar era society. The medical approach of the press (publications) and the identification and introduction of " RESALE DAR MARAZ_E ANFLUENZA: GRIP" as the first treatise written about this disease, has been done at this stage. The second step of the present study is to investigate how the Spanish flu entered Iran and assesses its consequences in the affected areas.

One of the most important and influential events in the interaction between Islamic civilization and the West was the Crusades, which lasted for nearly two centuries and extended from Europe to the Levant and Egypt. The main reasons for these wars, apparently, were the religious zeal of the Christians to seize Jerusalem from the Muslims and, in fact, the territorial expansion and influx of the surplus population of Europe to the east. The present study aims to explore the role of the Crusades in the transfer of medicine to Europe. The present research uses a descriptive-analytical method and library resources to explain the process of transferring Islamic and Eastern medical science to the world, affected by religious wars. Referring to texts, honesty and trustworthiness, citation of used texts, avoidance of bias in inference from texts or analyzes have been observed. The results of the research show that during the Crusades, Europeans, observing the scientific progress of Muslims, decided to translate the works of Islamic physicians and transfer them to Europe. This led to the advancement of medical knowledge and the development of health in Europe's Renaissance. Thus, he most important consequence of the Crusades was facilitation of the transfer of the cultural and civilizational foundations of the Islamic world, including the reserves of Islamic and Persian medicine to Europe

Spanish flu was one of the harshest historical pandemics in the northeastern Iran, which killed many local people. Its first outbreak in Mashhad dates back to August 3 and 4, 1918. This disease continued until 1920 in successive waves. The death toll of this disease in Mashhad (with a population of 100,000 people at the time) was possibly as high as 3,500. Moreover, this disease caused outbreak of other diseases. In fact, it killed five percent of this city’s population and resulted in huge deaths in this city. This paper takes the importance of Mashhad’s medical history into consideration and at the same time investigates the outstanding role of Spanish influenza, World War I, and the presence of Russians who were the main cause of this outbreak in Mashhad, and the reaction of Iranian and foreign physicians to this disease and the medicine they prescribed, as well as the significant role of British in fake Persian Famine, opium addiction, and food poverty.

The present study seeks to find an answer to this question, “how effective was the religious and moral advice on environmental health situation of cities under the territory of Al-Buwayh dynasty”? Findings indicate that in the first half of the Al-Buwayh era, following the increase in population and expansion of some cities, the need for health measures in various areas was felt, of which is considered a responsibility of environmental health authorities nowadays. In addition to the instructions and recommendations being embodied in some verses of Quran and hadiths being the basis of health laws, a number of rulers of this dynasty, like Azd al-Dawlah intervened in the health affairs of cities in various fields such as providing drinking water, constructing of medical and service centers, and appointing Sheriffs (Darougheh). A part of the mentioned actions was involved with the community health in the field of food hygiene, roads and public places, water hygiene as well as sewage disposal. In the present study, first, narrative, historical, medical and geographical books were indexed by using descriptive-analytical method and relying on library resources; second, the data in the most important areas related to environmental health was classified; and then, a conclusion was reached.

The medical terms currently used are derived from a variety of sources. These terms are often derived from an eponym. Eponyms are a long-standing tradition in medicine. Eponyms usually involve honoring a prominent physician-scientist who played a significant role in identifying the disease or the person who first reported the disease or the area where a disease first broke out in there. Eponyms are sometimes associated with myth, literature, and art. Of course, the mythological, literary, and artistic figures used in medicine as eponyms are mostly related to Greek and Roman mythology and English and German literature. However, without knowing the ancient records of a disease such as Sarsam (delirium), Barsam (pleurisy), Da'alfil (elephantiasis), Da'al-Raqs (chorea), Pisi (Vitiligo), Degg (languish), Zat-ul- reyeh (Pneumonia), and Zat-ul-Janb (pleurisy), one can specialize in medicine, but, recalling of literary and mythological letters, even those that have no practical application today or have been forgotten somewhere in the history of medicine, can soften medical science and allow us to link science and art. In this article, eponyms that are related to the sciences of anatomy and biochemistry are studied based on myth.

This article has no abstract.