Malaria's Historical Impact on Ancient Civilizations

The ancient Greeks were well acquainted with malaria from about 500 BC when infected slaves may have introduced the disease into Greece. This debilitating illness played a significant role in the decline of ancient Greek civilization, impacting its people and infrastructure. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, described malaria symptoms as early as 46 BC and differentiated between its various forms. However, he incorrectly believed that malaria resulted from drinking stagnant water.

Malaria did not discriminate in its victims. One of its most famous sufferers was Alexander the Great. Ancient Rome, too, was vulnerable to the fever. The Romans even worshipped Gei Febris, the fever goddess, hoping for her ability to cure the disease. Malaria’s impact on Rome was profound, contributing to the fall of the empire. It has been argued that the illness, along with other factors like hedonism and decadence, led to Rome's decline. Notably, three Roman emperors—Hadrian, Vespasian, and Titus—are believed to have died from malaria. St. Augustine, who carried Christianity’s message from Rome to Britain, is also thought to have contracted the disease.

Medieval Europe continued to grapple with malaria until significant changes in land use and housing practices disrupted the mosquitoes’ breeding habits. Land reclamation and improved drainage systems reduced the number of stagnant water bodies where mosquitoes thrived. Additionally, the construction of well-lit and ventilated houses inadvertently discouraged mosquito habitation, further reducing the incidence of malaria.

Today, while malaria is no longer endemic in Europe, it remains a significant health challenge in other parts of the world. Modern medicine, informed by ancient knowledge and advanced by scientific progress, continues to fight this ancient scourge with the hope of eventual eradication. The historical battle against malaria underscores the disease's enduring impact on human civilization and the continuous need for vigilance and innovation in public health.
Malaria's Historical Impact on Ancient Civilizations

Aspirin: Ancient Roots, Modern Science

The evolution of aspirin represents a significant milestone in medical history, showcasing a fascinating fusion of ancient wisdom with modern scientific advancements. Originating from natural salicylates found in plants such as the willow tree, which have been utilized since ancient times for pain relief, aspirin's journey epitomizes the seamless integration of traditional remedies with contemporary innovation.

The narrative of aspirin can be traced back to the ancient Roman era, where salicylates derived from plants like willow were recognized for their pain-relieving properties. As early as 400 B.C., Hippocrates himself endorsed the use of willow leaf tea for alleviating discomfort. However, it wasn't until the 19th century that scientists commenced unraveling the active ingredients responsible for these effects.

A pivotal moment occurred in 1763 when Edward Stone's discovery of willow bark's efficacy against fevers, presented to the Royal Society of London, sparked significant interest. This eventually led to the identification of salicylic acid as the active compound. Nonetheless, its direct application proved problematic due to severe stomach irritation.

Fast forward to 1897, when German chemist Felix Hoffmann, driven by his father's arthritis, successfully synthesized acetylsalicylic acid—the pure form of aspirin. This breakthrough laid the groundwork for Bayer's mass production of aspirin, which swiftly gained acclaim for its effectiveness and relatively minimal side effects compared to previous alternatives.

The medical community's comprehension of aspirin's mechanism of action continued to evolve over time. In 1948, Dr. Lawrence Craven observed a significant correlation between aspirin usage and reduced heart attack risk among his patients, prompting widespread recommendations for daily aspirin intake for cardiovascular health.

However, it wasn't until 1971 that the mechanism behind aspirin's effects was fully elucidated. John Vane's groundbreaking research demonstrated that aspirin inhibits prostaglandin synthesis, thereby alleviating symptoms such as fever, pain, inflammation, and menstrual cramps by modulating the body's immune responses.

The dual identity of aspirin, bridging ancient herbal medicine with modern pharmaceutical science, underscores its enduring significance. Its accessibility, rapid action, specificity, and mild side effects make it a quintessential example of a synthetic drug that revolutionized medicine.

Furthermore, aspirin's journey emphasizes the collaborative efforts of scientists spanning centuries and continents, from Edward Stone's initial discovery to Felix Hoffmann's synthesis and John Vane's mechanistic elucidation. Their collective contributions have not only deepened our understanding of pharmacology but also revolutionized clinical practice, providing relief and protection to millions worldwide.

In essence, aspirin serves as a testament to the convergence of historical knowledge and scientific advancement. From ancient remedies to cutting-edge pharmaceuticals, its story embodies humanity's timeless pursuit of alleviating suffering and enhancing human health.
Aspirin: Ancient Roots, Modern Science

History of arteriosclerosis

The first is an Egyptian Erasistratus, who lived around 300 BC was able to carry out an extensive study of organs of the body and described three pathways: veins, arteries, and nerves. His description of the heart and the heart valves is a very accurate.

Leonardo da Vinci theorized that diseases derived from some imperfection in the structure of the human body. In his drawing The Anatomy of the Old Man written 'In proportion as the Vessels become old their branches lose their straightness and become so much the more bent or tortuous, and their coats thicker, as old age becomes full of years.' Leonardo wrote, "vessels in the elderly, through the thickenings of the tunics, restrict the transit of the blood," and "the artery and the vein in the aged which extend between the spleen and the liver, acquires so thick a covering that it contracts the passage of blood....' This is one of the earliest descriptions of the changes of arteriosclerosis.

The name arteriosclerosis is derived from the Greek words meaning “hardening of the arteries.” Arteriosclerosis is a phenomenon that may have existed since ancient times even in Egypt.

It was in 1575 Fallopius wrote about “a degeneration of arteries into bone,” and anatomists of that era commonly mentioned ossified arteries.

Johann Friedrich Crell, in 1740 said that this hardening was not due to ossification of turning into bone but due to pus.

The Quaker physician, John Fothergill (1 712-1780) gave interesting advice concerning the prevention of coronary disease and arteriosclerosis. On the first appearance of symptoms, he advised the patient to adopt a plan of restricted food, which "might greatly retard the progress of the disorder, and to restrain excesses of passion and anxiety, which perhaps contribute more to the increase of this disease than a combination of all other causes."

Anatomist Antonio Scarpa, who lived from 1752 to 1832, in his book, Sull Aneurisma, Riflession: ed Osservazioni Anatomico-chirurgiche he described the cause of aneurysm as "slow, morbid ulcerated, steatomatous, fungus, squamous degeneration of the internal coat of the artery."

In 1755 von Haller found that these lesions that Crell thought were pus were actually something else. He used the term ‘atheroma’ that in Greek meant a space filled with gruel like material.

Jean Fréderic Martin Lobstein, a pathologist working in Strasburg, first used the terms ‘arteriosclerosis’ while he analyzed the composition of calcified arterial lesions. He refers to arteriosclerosis as a thickening and a hardening of the arteries.

In 1903 Mönckeberg arteriosclerosis was first described and named after Johann Georg Mönckeberg using details from 130 patients. It was also called “Mönckeberg media sclerosis” or “Mönckeberg media calcinosis”. 

History of arteriosclerosis

Ancient history of cancer

The oldest credible evidence of cancer in mammals consists of tumor masses found in fossilized dinosaurs and human bones from pre-historic times.

Archaeologists have found human remains dating several thousand years back from which specimens have been interpreted as consistent with cancer. Such is the case of a female skull from the Bronze Age (1900–1600 B.C.E.) and Peruvian Inca skeletons from ca. 2,400 years ago.

Some of the earliest evidence of human bone cancer was found in mummies in ancient Egypt and in ancient manuscripts especially the Edwin Smith and George Ebers papyri They were written between 1500 and 1600 BC possibly based on material from thousands of years earlier. The world’s oldest recorded case of breast cancer hails from ancient Egypt in 1500 BC and it was recorded that there was no treatment for the cancer, only palliative treatment.

The Smith papyrus, possibly written by Imhotep the physician-architect who designed and built the step pyramid at Sakkara in the 30th century BC under Pharaoh Djoser, is believed to contain the first reference to breast cancer (case 45) when referring to tumors of the anterior chest.

The earliest cancerous growths in humans were found in Egyptian and Peruvian mummies dating back to 1500 BC. The oldest scientifically documented case of disseminated cancer was that of a 40- to 50-year-old Scythian king who lived in the steppes of Southern Siberia 2,700 years ago.

Hippocrates

The word cancer came from a Greek words karkinos to describe carcinoma tumors by a physician Hippocrates (460-370 B.C). In Greek this means a crab. He left a number of detailed descriptions of various diseases, including descriptions of lesions that had affected skin, breasts, stomach, cervix, and rectum. He also classified these into cancers that were in an early stage and others that were “occult.”

By the middle of the 20th century, scientists began solving the complex problems of chemistry and biology behind cancer. Scientists identified that cancer could be caused by chemicals (carcinogens), radiation, viruses and also inherited from ancestors. Most carcinogens were damage the DNA, which led to abnormal growth of cells. Ancient history of cancer

Psoriasis in history

Psoriasis shares much of its ancient history with leprosy. Various Biblical references to ‘leprosy’, for instance more likely represent psoriasis.

Hippocrates was the first described on psoriasis. He described a series of scaling exanthems grouped include heading ‘lopoi’, Greek for epidemics, which likely included both psoriasis and leprosy. At the beginning of the first century, psoriasis was described by the Roman scholar Aurelieus Celcus (25 BC-AD 45) in his De re medica who referred to it as ‘impertigo’ (from impeto meaning attack).

Noted physician Galen (133-200 A.D.) identified psoriasis as a skin disease through clinical observation and was the first to call it psoriasis. He described psoriasis as a pruritic, scaly skin disease of the eyelids and scrotum.

It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that psoriasis was recognized as being specific clinical entity. In 1808, Robert Willan published the first color pales of a scaling skin disease described in his word, as ‘the scaly psora by a distinct appellation; for this purpose, the term ‘prosiasis’.

In 1841 Doctor Ferdinand von Hebra, founder of modern dermatology, further distinguished the clinical picture of psoriasis from that of leprosy
Psoriasis in history

History of diphtheria

The first human being to suffer from diphtheria may have been infected by a cow. Diphtheria has probably existed since classical antiquity. According to one theory, human beings caught most of these diseases when they first began to domesticate animals back in prehistoric times.

So diphtheria may have first infected people around 3000 BC, when the inhabitants of Mesopotamian tamed the wild aurochs, whose descendants are modern cows.

The disease was recognized as an infectious one but no more than a few stray cases were recognized in England for thirty years.

Diphtheria is a synonyme of the word Diphtherite, originally used by M. Bretonneau in his treaty on this subject, which appeared in 1826 and which is chiefly made up of his own observations on the epidemics of malignant sore throat which prevailed at Tours and in its neighborhood 1818 and again in 1825 and 1826.

In the winter of 1855 to 1856, 366 deaths from diphtheria occurred in the French city of Boulogne. By March 1858 diphtheria reached London, where it remained as endemic disease. In 1858 there was a sudden widespread appearance of severe diphtheria in England and within the year it had spread to almost every part of the globe.

Scientists in Germany and France isolated the pathogen and in 1882, it was observed under the microscope that there were numerous bacilli of an easily recognized shape in the grey ‘false membrane’ which forms on the tonsils in diphtheria.

This disease is especially significant in a modern medical history because diphtheria antitoxin, produced in a Berlin laboratory in 1890 and available on a commercial scale shortly thereafter, was the first effective therapeutic developed though bacteriological research.
History of diphtheria

History of dermatology

The history of dermatology is the history of mankind. The history of dermatology can only be distinguished from the history of medicine at the beginning of the 19th century when dermatology like the other specialties began to be recognized as a specialities branch of medicine.

The invention of writings coincided with early cities in Africa. Early texts were mainly for administration or religious purposes, but medical writings soon appeared, Many of them related to skin disorders.

There was initial age of medicine dominated by magic, followed by the growth of rational medicine led by Hippocrates around 400 C. Hippocratic writings contained a number of passages which refer to cutaneous disorders. He divided skin disease into two types: local and constitutional. Local means those with an independent existence while constitutional means that those occur due to elimination of disease.

Aristotle (383-322 BC) too was aware of the hormonal association of baldness. He noticed that either normal women or eunuchs went bald and that both were unable to grow hair on their chest.

A group of brilliant doctors in Padua, including Vesalius and Mercurialis, set up a system of learning and wrote medical texts that revitalized medicine in Europe. Mercurialis wrote De Morbis Cuteneis in 1572: this summarized work of early writers and has focus on hair disorders, but still represents the first dermatology textbook in the west since the time of Paul of Aegina, 800 years before.

In 1817, Robert Willan produced images of skin diseases in his textbook, the first dermatology atlas that was completed by Bateman. This atlas went through many editions and was still in print in 1877.

At the beginning of the 20th century, dermatology was developing in most European and North American countries with fledging dermatology societies and dermatology journals.
History of dermatology

History of eczema

Eczema as defined previously is dermatitis caused by internal factors such as inherent diathesis, stasis, stress, dry skin etc. Eczemas are classified depending on morphology and aetiology.

Historical reflections in the description of atopic eczema start with Robert Willan who in 1808 used the term ‘eczema’ in a scientific morphological way. In his book, Description and Treatment of Cutaneous Diseases Willan expanded classification of skin disease and introduced new clinical entities such as erythema nodosum (inflammatory reaction deep in the skin).

The efforts clinical descriptions of skin conditions and their treatments date back to 1600 BC in ancient Egypt, where medical healers treated such conditions as psoriasis, ulcers, alopecia and scabies. The term ‘eczema’ was coined in the sixth century AD by the Greek physician Aetios from Amida who described the boiling and bubbling (eczeo = to bubble up) as it can be observed in a boiling soup.

Early description can be found in the book of the Italian physician Girolamoi Mercuriali (1601) with a description of ‘lactumen’ as crustose skin lesions on the scalp which look like burned milk in a pan and were later called ‘cradle cap’.

Bateman in 1813 defined eczema and has a rather precise meaning for the majority dermatologists. The word eczema is often used as a synonym for dermatitis and would probably be a well accepted denomination since the general public has always considered the disease atopic dermatitis to be an eczema, as it is identical to infantile eczema.

Rayer (1793-1867), the first edition of his influential Treatises, proposed to distinguish acute and chronic eczemas.

In 1933, Wise and Sulzberger later coined the term atopic dermatitis to further emphasize the relationship between atopic eczema, hay fever, and asthma. History of eczema

Medicine in ancient Egypt

Egyptian medicine experienced a surprisingly rapid development as early as the Old Kingdom and preserved it s good reputation both as home and abroad even in the following centuries.

Ancient Greek writers from Homer to Herodotus praised the physicians of Egypt for their wisdom and skill, but the Greeks also knew Egypt as the ‘mother country of diseases’.

The abundance of disease that flourishes in Egypt provides a rational for Herodotus’ observation that the while country swarmed with highly specialized physician dedicated to care the eyes, head, teeth, stomach and obscure ailments.

Egyptian medicine was a compendium of treatments and prescriptions compiled almost exclusively through trial and error over the course millennia.

Medicine was part healing, part magic and part religion. Doctors of ancient Egypt knew much about human anatomy and how to treat many diseases. They set broken bones, delivered baboies and prospered dressings for wounds.

Treatment for an illness might combine chanting a magical spell, prayers to god or goddess, and a potion prepared by the doctor.

Surgery was rare, and dissection was the province of butchers and embalmers most depictions of internal organs are of cattle and other animals rather than human being.

Physicians employed a vast pharmacopeia of natural substances. Honey was used for its medicinal properties as well as its sweetness and the juice of pomegranates served as both an astringent and a delicacy.

It is indisputable that ancient Egyptian medicine influenced the advancement of medicine in cultures around the Aegean Sea, but primarily in Greece, where its uninterrupted continuation through the medicine of the Roman Empire eventually became European medicine.
Medicine in ancient Egypt 

History of Hypericum (St. John's Wort)

Hypericum or St. John’s Wort is used widely because of the perception that is a safer, ‘natural’ antidepressant. The Latin name Hypericum derives from the Greek and means ‘over an apparition’ a reference to the belief that the herb was so obnoxious to evil spirits that a whiff of it would cause them to depart the premises quickly.

The name ‘St. John’s Wort’ has its origin in Christian folk traditions. One belief held that red spots appeared on the leaves during the anniversary of St. John’s beheading and symbolized his blood.

St. John’s Wort was first mentioned in Roman times by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century AD. Around the same times, Diascorides, a Roman army doctor born in Greece recommended the imbibition of St. John’s Wort with special liquids ‘to expel many choleric excrements’.

Diascorides recommended the herb for a host of ailments, including sciatica and for the treatment of poisonous reptile bites.

Over 1,000 years later, the famous German physician Paracelsus was one of the first to mention St. John Wort as are remedy to treat mental disturbances and also other disease.

The modern history of St. John’s Wort extract probably began in 1984, when Commission E of the former German Federal Health Agency, which was determining recommendations for the use of herbal drugs, published a positive monograph about St, John’s Wort, recommending it use for psychoautonomic disturbances, depressed mood, nervousness and anxiety.
History of Hypericum (St. John's Wort)

History of measles

Measles probably began with the start of urban life in the Middle East around 3000 BC.

Some historians believe that a plague that killed a large part of the Athenian army in 430 to 429 BC was measles. As urbanization occurred in subsequent centuries, the proximity or larger populations nurtured epidemics with continued circulation of virus in cities. There were massive epidemics in the Roman Empire starting in 165 and in 251 AD, and two similar epidemics in China in 162 and 310.

Jews physician such as Al Yehudi had recognized the illness but without distinction between it and other rash disordered.

Measles was first documented by an Arabic physician called Rhazes.

Rhazes lived in the 10th century but he quoted other authors on measles form as far back s Al Yehudi, who lived in the 7th century.

He distinguished between smallpox and measles even though he believed that the two conditions were part of one morbid process.

Rhazes referred it the disease as widespread throughout the East and the same opinion is expressed by Avicenna and other Arabic writers of the tenth and eleventh centuries.

By the 17th century, some European also physicians had identified the differences between measles and small pox.

In 1846, a Danish physician Peter Panum studied a measles outbreak on the Faroe Islands and was the first to describe the clinical presentation, incubation and infectious nature of measles.

The introduction of measles vaccine in 1963 and its subsequent widespread use led to dramatic declines in the reported incidence of measles.
History of measles 

History of leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis is caused by several species of the genus Leishmania called hemoflagellates and is transmitted by sand flies, which are often prevalent in desert areas.

Representations of skin lesions and facial deformities have been found on pre-Inca pottery from Peru and Ecuador dating back to the first century AD. There are evidences that some forms of leishmaniasis prevailed as early as this period.

Also there were descriptions of the oriental sore were found on tablets belonging to King Ashurbanipal in the seventh century BC but were likely taken from information first recorded in 1500-2500 BC.

There are detailed descriptions of oriental sore by Arab physicians including Avicenna in the tenth century, who described it as Balkh sore from Northern Afghanistan, and there are later records from various places in the Middle East including Baghdad and Jericho.

New Word cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis was well depicted in fifth century AD sculptures and sixteenth century Spanish missionary writings.

In 1901, Scottish army doctor William Leishman identified certain organisms in smears talent from the spleen of a s patient who had died from ‘dum-dum fever’.

It was not discovered until 1921 that Leishmania was transmitted by a vector. The search leading to the implication of a specific vector was sought for a number of years, before the Sergent brothers Edouard and Etienne, demonstrated through experimental proof the transmission to humans from sand flies of the genus Phlebotomus.
History of leishmaniasis

A Course of Treatment by Egyptian Doctors in 1300 BC

Medical practice in Egypt was based on specialization, so that there were different doctors for the eye, teeth or head. Egyptian doctors also were well aware of their limitations, however, and were told not to inflict unnecessary suffering on their patients, so there were many case where they had to say at least – ‘An ailment not to be treated’. They were recommended to take note of the treatments and medicines they used and of their effects, so that they had a record for similar cases in the future.

There were medicines to be taken internally, other to be applied to the outside of the body, and others still to be inhaled. Egyptian ingredients that can be identified today appear to be sound herbal remedies. However, some medicines had ingredients such as mice, beetles and dung, which aimed to drive out the demons causing the illness.

The Egyptians had a remarkable knowledge of the way the body worked, and knew about its internal arrangements through mummifying the dead. For them, the heart was the most important organ; they knew that it pumped blood round the body, and that the pulse ‘spoke the messages of the heart’. They also knew that injuries to one side of the brain affected the opposite side of the body.

In ancient Egypt, head wounds were treated buy application of a piece of meat on the first day, followed by a linen cloth soaked in honey or fat. With skull fractures, the patient was advised to maintain a sitting position, supported by bricks on either side.

Unlike the Mesopotamian medical traditions, Egyptians were surgically oriented and reset fractured, treated wounds and trephined the skull.

Doctors sometimes used surgery as well as medicine to treat patients, and opened injured skulls to relieve pressure in the brain. Before an operation the surgeon gave his patient a drink, presumably a painkiller, ‘to render it agreeable’. In the New Kingdom the painkiller might have been opium, imported from Cyprus.

There is evidence of opium use by ancient Egyptians in 1300 BC for the treatment of ‘excessive crying in chidlren’, and opium-soaked sponges were used to facilities surgery.

Because of the importance the Egyptians attached to ritual purity the surgeon and his assistants washed themselves and purified the instruments in fire before the operation. Both of these would cut down the risk of infection.

There is not much evidence of formal hospitals per se; Egyptians physicians, however, made house calls, had officially assigned duty stations at temples, and formally assigned to military units.

The Egyptians were a deeply religious people and prayers would always be used as well as medicines, even for the simplest ailments. In difficult cases, magic might be employed. It was also possible to visit temple of a deity associated with medicine, such as Imhotep, which had priests trained as a doctors.

At some temples the sick could spend a night close to the god’s sanctuary. During such stay, called ‘incubation’, the patient might be cured by the deity, or dream of the god and receive instructions for treatment. Even if no help was forth coming, the sufferer was spiritually comforted.
A Course of Treatment by Egyptian Doctors in 1300 BC

Hippocratic corpus

Hippocrates lived in the age of Socrates and most of the treatises seem to originate in the classical period. About 70 medical treatises, generally called the Hippocratic corpus are traditionally attributed to him.

The 'Hippocratic' Corpus comprises some 60 medical works of varying length, style and content. Collectively, this is the largest surviving body of early Greek prose.

The treaties vary greatly in length and style, and it is generally believed that they used to make up the library of a medical school, probably at Cos, which became the most important center of medical thought and practice in the 4th century BC – a role that was later taken over by Alexandria.

One author in the time of Galen believed that at least part of the collection was written down by Hippocrates to preserve the oral doctrines of the family of Asclepiads that were in danger of disappearing because they handed down only by word of mouth.

Hippocratic Corpus emphasized the ability of the human body to heal itself. This holistic approach to medicine and hence the Hippocratic approach to medicine, has seen a resurgence on the western world in recent decades. It also emphasized the rational scientific mind in the detection and analysis of illness.

One interesting element of the Hippocratic corpus, and a clear mark of its kind scientific character, is that besides successful treatments medical mistakes were also included.
Hippocratic corpus

Doctors in ancient Mesopotamia

In ancient Mesopotamia there were two basic types of doctor. First of all there was the kind of doctor (asu) who has rule relied upon medical substances to effect a cure. They concocted most medicines from plants and trees. Leaves seeds or roots were sued and sometimes tree branches, bark or gum.

Second, there was the kind of doctor (ashipu) who traditionally trusted in spiritual remedies. The ashipu performed sacrifies, searched for omens, chanted spells and prescribed rituals. Mesopotamians believed these doctors could help and sometimes the belief was enough to cure them.

On occasion, each type of doctor might apply the other’s methods in addition to his own to assure a patient’s recovery and in difficult cases, specialist of both types might collaborate.

For a certain problems, patients were sent to an asu, or physician, The asu knew how to combine many kinds of herbs into skin creams, syrups and poultices, By 2100 BC, physicians knew how to heal wounds by washing them with water, applying a ‘plaster’ to soap and bandaging them.

For stomach problems, the asu might have mixed powdered ingredients that could be taken with beer, milk or both, to help the patients swallow the medicine more easily.

Although the treatment of medical problems included spiritual and magical practices as well as medical intervention, Mesopotamian doctors seem to have enjoyed considerable success in dealing with disease and other medical problems.

Hammurabi, king of Babylon laid down 17 rules for doctors in the Code of Hammurabi, his collection of all Babylonian laws. The rules included guidelines on punishments for doctors if their treatment did not work.
Doctors in ancient Mesopotamia

History of Lupus

Lupus is the Latin word for wolf and it is common medical lore that the ‘butterfly rash’ seen on the cheeks of many lupus patients is so similar to the facial markings of a wolf that human ancestor chose the name for this reason.

It is a common name for the disorder known technically as lupus erythematosus. This formal name includes systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) – where systemic means affecting the entire body or internal system.

People have used ‘lupus’ to describe a disease since the Middle Ages. Possibly the first recorded use of the word ‘lupus’ to identify a skin disease was in AD 855, when Herbernus, the archbishop of Tours, France, wrote in his Miracles of St. Martin.

The oldest evidence of a lupus-like disease is the mummy of a 14 year-old girl who died in AD 890 in Peru. Examination of the mummy shows evidence of hair loss, leathery  skin, lung disease and inflammation around the heart.

Accurate treatises on the skin disorders associated with lupus were published in the mid-1800s by the great Viennese physicians Ferdinand von Hebra and his son-in-law Moriz Kaposi. They recognized that the symptoms of lupus extended beyond the skin and affected the organs of the body too.

In 1851 French doctor Pierre Cazanave is credited with the first use of the term lupus erythematosus.

However it was Sir William Osler, Canadian physician and the founder of residency programs in the 1890s at John Hopkins, who wrote the earliest complete treatises on lupus erythematosus between 1895 and 1903.

In 1949, at the Mayo Clinic, physician Dr Phillip Hench demonstrated that a newly discovered hormone called cortisone that could treat rheumatoid arthritis. Cortisone was used to treat SLE patients and immediately showed a dramatic ability to save lives.
History of Lupus

Cod liver oil in history of medicine

Cod-liver oil has been used since very early times by the Greenlanders, Laplanders and Eskimos.

In the 15th century the English physician Howel, in his formulary, recommended ‘cod oil’ in the preparation of a ‘cere cloth’ a kind of cerate to be used on wounds.

About 1730, Norwegian fishermen and farmers found that cod-liver oil cured rickets. In 1766 it was recorded that the oil was been used for treatment of rickets in Manchester, England.

Cod liver oil seems to have been used in Germany from a remote period as a domestic remedy in various forms of disease. It was first introduced into the Materia Medica by Dr. Thomas Percival, of London, in 1771 as a remedy for chronic rheumatism.

In 1841, Dr J. H Bennet of London published a treatise on Oleum Fecoris Aselli, in which he set forth its great value as a remedy in tubercular disease. From 1820 until 1920, there are numerous reports of clinical improvements in pulmonary and lymphatic tuberculosis with cod-liver oil therapy.

In 1854 the pharmacist Peter Moller introduced the new method of heating up the cod liver with steam resulting in golden tran that ‘tasted fresh’.

During 1860s the oil was largely viewed as a dietetic aid, and it is significant that the oil’s principal reputation in Newfoundland became as a general tonic, strengthener and preventive.

In 1918, Mellanby reported that he could produce rickets in dogs by feeding them oatmeal and could cure the disease by adding cod-liver oil to the diet.
Cod liver oil in history of medicine 

History of schizophrenia

Written description of schizophrenia had been tracked back to Egypt during the years 200 BC.

Ancient Greek and Roman literature indicated that the general population had an awareness of schizophrenia. Greek physician blamed delusion and paranoia on an imbalance of bodily humors.

Following the early lead of the British, after 1801 it was the French who dominated the medical study of the mentally ill until mid-century, when the Germans began their nomination of this field.

In April 1908 Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939) published a paper suggested that the disorder be renamed schizophrenia to remove the emphasis on prognosis suggested by the term dementia praecox. Schizophrenia formerly named as ‘dementia praecox’ by Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926) referring to the Latin meaning ‘out of one’s mind’.

Kraepelin first mentioned dementia praecox in 1893 and summed it up as a subcategory of mental degenerative processes.

Bleuler had been using the term schizophrenia in lectures to his medical staff at the Burgholzli Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, prior this time.

The word schizophrenia is derived from the Greek word for ‘split brain’. The new term carried with it a different grammatical structure that implicitly alluded to a difference in theoretical conceptualization.
History of schizophrenia 

Arthritis in ancient times

Arthritis pain has been around since the beginning of time. A group of iguanodons, unearthed in Brussels and dating from 85,000 BC had signs of osteoarthritis in their ankles.

Neanderthal man of 30,000 BC remains show that early man had secondary osteoarthritis.

The latest evidence of rheumatoid arthritis was found in the skeletons of people living around 4500 BC in what is today the southern United States.

Scientists also have discovered evidence of arthritis in the bones of mummies from the pyramids of ancient Egypt. There is evidence that at least three pharaohs, including Rameses II (1290 to 1221 BC) and his son Merenptah had ankylosing spondylitis (a type of arthritis).

About 2000 years ago, an Indian medical doctor named Charaka wrote about a disease whose victims had fevers and swollen, a painful joints.

Gout is particularly painful form of arthritis. In ancient times, gouty arthritis was believed to be a ‘rich man’s disease’ because a diet heavy in pork, beer, and port was suspected to be the cause.

Since the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates coined the word arthritis it means swollen joints – people have complained of pain, swelling and stiffness in their limbs.

Historical references to the medicinal use of willow bark date from around 500 BC when Chinese used the plant as a pain reliever, probably in a tea. Hippocrates advised that willow bark and leaves should be chewed to alleviate pain and fever.
Arthritis in ancient times

History of common cold

3000 years ago, the Chinese treated olds with a tea brewed from the ma huang plant. This plant produces a chemical called ephedrine.

The common cold was known among the ancient American Indian, Aztec and Maya civilization.

The famous early Greek physician Hippocrates – who lived around 460 BC to 377 BC – believed colds occurred when ‘waste matter’ built in the brain.

When the waste matter overflowed, it caused runny noses. That is why the Greeks called the common cold catarrh, meaning ‘flow’.

During the first century Pliny the Elder suggested ‘kissing the hairy muzzle of a mule’ as therapy for colds.

At the same time in Rome, Celsus wrote about the common cold and prescribed a more popular remedy – flagons of good Italian wine.

The cold is discussed in Arabic works dedicated primarily to pharmacy and dietetics. A cold was thought to be caused by the cold in winter, but can be offset with appropriate clothing.

A summer cold, however, described by Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), was caused by the seasonal heat, that ‘melted the hard excretions that are found in the brain and then they run down’.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, hot drinks that raised a sweat were thought to be perfect antidote for the cold.

Ben Franklin declared that fresh air prevented colds, since he observed that colds were contracted by close contact with other cold sufferers.

It was not until first Walter Kruse and then Alphonse Donchez in the early part of the 20th century demonstrated that viruses caused the common cold.

The first isolation of human rhinovirus was reported by two laboratories in the late 1950s: Price in 1956 and Pelon and co-workers in 1957.
History of common cold