{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:45:33Z","timestamp":1777855533686,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,27]],"date-time":"2021-02-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1614384000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Med Biogr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In late 18th century Britain, typhus fever plagued the mass mobilisation of soldiers and posed a significant challenge to physicians of the time. Epidemic typhus was spread through highly infectious faeces of infected lice and carried a high mortality in patients and healthcare staff alike. Physicians James Carmichael Smyth (1741\u20131821) and Archibald Menzies (1754\u20131842) theorized that typhus fever was caused by infection of human exhalation. They trialled the use of vapourised nitrous acid to fumigate patients, their clothes and their bedspace, with apparent success. Despite this, typhus fever continued to ravage deployments of soldiers into the early 19th century, stimulating the continuing evolution of the understanding of typhus and its treatment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0967772021994560","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,28]],"date-time":"2021-02-28T00:58:28Z","timestamp":1614473908000},"page":"4-9","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The contributions of James Carmichael Smyth, Archibald Menzies and Robert Jackson to the treatment of typhus in royal naval vessels in the late 18th century"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"31","author":[{"given":"Chelsea","family":"Chan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Edinburgh School of Medicine, Edinburgh, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2004-9448","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andreas K","family":"Demetriades","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Neurosciences (Neurosurgery), Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK"},{"name":"Scottish Society of the History of Medicine"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0967772021994560","unstructured":"Jackson R.\n                      A sketch, (Analytical) of the History and Cure of Contagious Fever\n                      . London Print Burgess Hill, 1819, https:\/\/dlcs.io\/pdf\/wellcome\/pdf-item\/b21353748\/0#_ga=2.261922185.529167690.1585309502-1465064570.1585309502 (23 November  2020)."},{"key":"bibr2-0967772021994560","volume-title":"Douglas and Bennett\u2019s principles and practice of infectious diseases","author":"Bennett J","year":"2020","edition":"9"},{"key":"bibr3-0967772021994560","unstructured":"Sexton DT, McClain MT. UpToDate. Uptodate.com, www.uptodate.com\/contents\/epidemic-typhus?search=epidemic%20typhus&source=search_result&selectedTitle=1\u223c16&usage_type=default&display_rank=1#references (accessed 23 November  2020)."},{"key":"bibr4-0967772021994560","unstructured":"Smyth JC. Description of the jail distemper: as it appeared amongst the Spanish Prisoners at Winchester, in the year 1780;\n                      \u2009\u2026\u2009Annals of Medicine\n                      . Printed for J Johnson, London, 1795, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5046867\/ (accessed 23 November  2020)."},{"key":"bibr5-0967772021994560","volume-title":"Emma","author":"Austen J.","year":"2014"},{"key":"bibr6-0967772021994560","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1603\/EC13249"},{"key":"bibr7-0967772021994560","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/am.10.3.185-189.1962"},{"key":"bibr8-0967772021994560","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1006\/abbi.1995.1044"},{"key":"bibr9-0967772021994560","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1361684"},{"key":"bibr10-0967772021994560","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/sj.cdd.4401261"},{"key":"bibr11-0967772021994560","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/ana.10397"},{"key":"bibr12-0967772021994560","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tox.2004.11.032"},{"key":"bibr13-0967772021994560","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/096777200100900407"},{"key":"bibr14-0967772021994560","volume-title":"An account of the experiment made on board the union Hospital-Ship, to determine the effect of the nitrous acid in destroying contagion","author":"Smyth JC.","year":"1796"},{"key":"bibr15-0967772021994560","unstructured":"Menzies A.\n                      Report of the experiment for stopping the progress of contagion, as executed on board some of the Russian men of war\n                      . Printed for J Johnson, London, 1796, https:\/\/play.google.com\/books\/reader?id=iF0TAAAAQAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA1 (accessed 23 November 2020)."},{"key":"bibr16-0967772021994560","unstructured":"Smyth JC.\n                      The effects of the nitrous vapour in preventing and destroying contagion, ascertained from a variety of trials, &c. &c\n                      . Printed by Budd and Bartram for Thomas Dobson, London, 1799."},{"key":"bibr17-0967772021994560","unstructured":"Smyth JC. RCP museum. History.rcplondon.ac.uk, https:\/\/history.rcplondon.ac.uk\/inspiring-physicians\/james-carmichael-smyth (accessed 18 January \n2021)."},{"key":"bibr18-0967772021994560","first-page":"278","volume":"16","author":"Anonymous.","year":"1820","journal-title":"Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal"},{"key":"bibr19-0967772021994560","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/498534"},{"key":"bibr20-0967772021994560","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0025727300058725"},{"key":"bibr21-0967772021994560","volume-title":"Rats, lice and history","author":"Zinsser H.","year":"1935"}],"container-title":["Journal of Medical Biography"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0967772021994560","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0967772021994560","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0967772021994560","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T23:26:14Z","timestamp":1777505174000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0967772021994560"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,27]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,2]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0967772021994560"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0967772021994560","relation":{},"ISSN":["0967-7720","1758-1087"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0967-7720","type":"print"},{"value":"1758-1087","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,27]]}}}