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Glimpses of a Hidden Burden: Hydatid Disease in Eighteenth-Century Scotland
- Bulletin of the History of Medicine
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 79, Number 3, Fall 2005
- pp. 534-543
- 10.1353/bhm.2005.0125
- Article
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Abstract
SUMMARY: "Hydatids" or watery cysts have been observed in animals and humans since ancient times, giving rise to frequent speculation as to their nature and origin. This essay focuses on an extremely rare clinical case managed at the Edinburgh Infirmary in 1785 by James Gregory, professor of the theory of medicine. Following the death of the patient, an autopsy disclosed lesions characteristic of a condition eventually labeled "echinococcosis of the liver," today one of the most common parasitic diseases in sheep raising regions of the world. The essay reviews the obscure nature of this endemic disease in Gregory's time, and the difficulties confronting scientists and clinicians keen to unravel its secrets.
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