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This is a book about the history of medicine, more specfically about certain illnesses
and how they evolved over the past century or two with respect to frequency, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome. It uses
the life and death of well-know historical figures who died before age 40 to introduce a discussion of the disease of which
each died, and it then proceeds to outline advances in the understanding, recognition, and response to therapy since.
The famous people range from Robert Burns and Lord Byron of the late 18th
and early 19th centuries, down to Eva Perón and Mario Lanza of the mid-20th. Some of the diseases reviewed have virtually
disappeared (e.g., rheumatic heart disease and childbirth-related death), at least in developed countries, and the outcomes
of others have improved markedly (e.g., tuberculosis and kidney failure) because of new and effective means of diagnosis and
treatment, particularly over the past half-century.
CHAPTERS
- Introduction
- Robert Burns and Rheumatic Heart Disease
- George Gordon, Lord Byron and Malaria
- The Princess Charlotte of Wales and Death in Childbirth
- Charlotte Brönte and Excessive Vomiting of Pregnancy
- Stephen Crane and Tuberculosis
- Rudolph Valentino and Peptic Ulcer
- Lou Gehrig and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
- Jean Harlow and Chronic Kidney Disease
- Eva Perón and Cancer of the Cervix
- Mario Lanza and Ischemic Heart Disease
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