Rheumatoid Arthritis in an Icelandic Textbook from 1782
Author
Summary, in English
In 1782, Jon Petursson, a district physician in Northern Iceland, published a textbook on arthritis and its remedies intended for common
use. Working within a very simple diagnostic system, essentially comprising osteoarthritis (arthritis h a ) and inflammatory arthritis (arthritis
vaga), he describes arthritis vaga as a common, chronic, symmetric, destructive, inflammatory polyarthritis, sometimes with systemic
manifestations. It affected people of aU ages with a peak incidence around forty, and had a female preponderance. The last observation is
of particular interest as he knew he was contradicting all the available literature. Contemporary descriptions of Jon PCtursson suggest that
he may have had rheumatoid arthritis himself which would explain his excellent description of this disease.
use. Working within a very simple diagnostic system, essentially comprising osteoarthritis (arthritis h a ) and inflammatory arthritis (arthritis
vaga), he describes arthritis vaga as a common, chronic, symmetric, destructive, inflammatory polyarthritis, sometimes with systemic
manifestations. It affected people of aU ages with a peak incidence around forty, and had a female preponderance. The last observation is
of particular interest as he knew he was contradicting all the available literature. Contemporary descriptions of Jon PCtursson suggest that
he may have had rheumatoid arthritis himself which would explain his excellent description of this disease.
Publishing year
1996
Language
English
Pages
134-137
Publication/Series
Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology
Volume
25
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Topic
- Rheumatology and Autoimmunity
Keywords
- history
- rheumatoid arthritis
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1502-7732