Puntos

English translation: Spotted fever

08:39 Jan 19, 2020
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Medical - History / Nazi Medical Experiments
Spanish term or phrase: Puntos
In an article about the Nazi medical experiments, this section deals with typhus experiments:

Desde diciembre de 1941 hasta febrero de 1945, se condujeron experimentos para investigar la efectividad de la fiebre **con puntos** y otras vacunas.
Martin Cosgrove (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:58
English translation:Spotted fever
Explanation:
The source text is a little wonky, since "la efectividad de la fiebre con puntos y otras vacunas" doesn't make sense on its face. If the desire was to demonstrate the deadliness of a certain disease, it doesn't make sense to then follow it with 'and other vaccines.' On the other hand, if the intent was to investigate the effectiveness of vaccines, then 'la efectividad de la fiebre...' is missing something.

I decided to follow the exact quote and found that it seems to originate from the Spanish Wikipedia article on Nazi human experimentation. That quote is then repeated verbatim on a number of Spanish-language documents, including, I assume, the one you're translating. The Wikipedia article gives the source as the Nuremberg charge sheet against Karl Brandt et al, which lists several charges, but only one that coincides with the dates you mention:

Typhus ("spotted fever") and other vaccine experiments. December 1941 - February 1945. Conducted for the benefit of the German armed forces to test the effectiveness of vaccines against typhus, smallpox, cholera, and other diseases; experiments were conducted at Buchenwald and Natzweiler.

I would suggest, therefore, a) that the Spanish text is a poor translation of the above charge, and b) that 'fiebre con puntos' refers to 'spotted fever', which is a type of tick-borne disease that is similar, but not identical, to typhus.

References to the above:
Spanish wikipedia article (section on typhus):
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimentación_nazi_en_seres_...

Nuremberg charge sheet against Karl Brandt et al.:
https://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/nmt_1_intro

Spotted fever:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_fever
Selected response from:

Adam Dickinson
Canada
Local time: 05:58
Grading comment
Thank you! Very helpful and thorough.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +4Spotted fever
Adam Dickinson


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
Spotted fever


Explanation:
The source text is a little wonky, since "la efectividad de la fiebre con puntos y otras vacunas" doesn't make sense on its face. If the desire was to demonstrate the deadliness of a certain disease, it doesn't make sense to then follow it with 'and other vaccines.' On the other hand, if the intent was to investigate the effectiveness of vaccines, then 'la efectividad de la fiebre...' is missing something.

I decided to follow the exact quote and found that it seems to originate from the Spanish Wikipedia article on Nazi human experimentation. That quote is then repeated verbatim on a number of Spanish-language documents, including, I assume, the one you're translating. The Wikipedia article gives the source as the Nuremberg charge sheet against Karl Brandt et al, which lists several charges, but only one that coincides with the dates you mention:

Typhus ("spotted fever") and other vaccine experiments. December 1941 - February 1945. Conducted for the benefit of the German armed forces to test the effectiveness of vaccines against typhus, smallpox, cholera, and other diseases; experiments were conducted at Buchenwald and Natzweiler.

I would suggest, therefore, a) that the Spanish text is a poor translation of the above charge, and b) that 'fiebre con puntos' refers to 'spotted fever', which is a type of tick-borne disease that is similar, but not identical, to typhus.

References to the above:
Spanish wikipedia article (section on typhus):
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimentación_nazi_en_seres_...

Nuremberg charge sheet against Karl Brandt et al.:
https://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/nmt_1_intro

Spotted fever:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_fever


Adam Dickinson
Canada
Local time: 05:58
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you! Very helpful and thorough.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: It makes you realize how much information on the internet is just cut and pasted from elsewhere.
16 mins
  -> I've lost count of the number of times I've found cut-and-pasted text from Wikipedia in client documents, sometimes with the original links and formatting intact...

agree  MPGS: Fully agree. Did same tracking. Poor ESP translation. Cheers.
16 mins
  -> Thank you!

agree  Chema Nieto Castañón: La confusión está presente en el original inglés al equiparar el tifus (o la fiebre tifoidea) con la fiebre maculosa (spotted fever; RMSF), ambas causadas por Rickettsias pero enfermedades diferentes. Debería corregirse "fiebre con puntos" por typhus.
1 hr
  -> Gracias por el aporte!

agree  Yvonne Gallagher
1 day 2 hrs
  -> Thank you, Yvonne!
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