Pyrexia uncertain in origin during the Great War Thesis by Norman Stanley Rees Lorraine M.D.

[Skipman]

 Another from the Edinburgh Research Archive

"Pyrexia uncertain in origin during the Great War, 1914-1918, with notes on diagnosis" by Norman Stanley Rees Lorraine M.D. PDF download

Mike

 

There are quite a number of useful files happy to add any I find or would it be best just to leave you to it?

[seaJane]

Not got that one - I'll add it, and have a look round the site - thanks!

sJ

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Fascinating, Mike.

Scanning through it, I came across 'Mediterranean Fever' (p 56 of the thesis, p72 of 110 of the PDF).

I'd forgotten that this was formerly called Malta Fever, and is now called Brucellosis.
This was actually a not uncommon cause of PUO in the UK, particularly amongst workers in the cattle industry, (B.abortus), pig industry (B. suis) and goat industry ( B. melitensis), up until the 1980s or thereabouts when herds were tested and accredited to be Brucella free. Vets, perhaps not surprisingly, were particularly prone to falling prey to this insiduous disease.

Interesting also to read the section on Trench Fever, which we now know is caused by Bartonella quintata, (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(16)30003-2/fulltext)   and Influenza, now known to be caused by a virus, not a bacterium.  I wonder what writers 100 years hence will make of our generation's efforts to deal with "pathogenic viruses of our time"?

Edited 17 December , 2021 by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr

[Martin Bennitt]

I had always thought that PUO stood for pyrexia of unknown origin rather than uncertain, but the introduction to the thesis suggests they are interchangeable. Am I right?

Cheers Martin B

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

6 minutes ago, Martin Bennitt said:

I had always thought that PUO stood for pyrexia of unknown origin rather than uncertain, but the introduction to the thesis suggests they are interchangeable. Am I right?

Cheers Martin B

Yes, it looks like it.

The modern day usage is with 'unknown'. I'm sure a trawl of the literature would reveal when the usage of 'uncertain' changed?