Recently, new revelations debunked the long-held belief of how HIV/AIDS first arrived in the United States. But that is not the only disease history has gotten an origin story wrong. It appears that getting the origins of diseases right is not an unusual thing due to many factors, like the role of existing beliefs and prejudices.
It is important to understand the natural history of the disease to know how to intervene and modify the natural course of the disease, but most importantly to develop the proper treatment. Here are the top five origins of diseases that science has gotten wrong according to the website All That Is Interesting:
Syphilis
When Christopher Columbus brought syphilis to Europe in the late 1400s, it became clear that it was sexually transmitted. However, prevailing social and institutional sexism claimed that women, particularly prostitutes, spread the disease.
This sexist perspective was entrenched in both public education about syphilis and medical treatments, which saw physicians experiment with doses of mercury on hospitalized prostitutes to develop treatments for the disease.
One failed attempt was "syphilization," which aimed to inoculate against diseases like smallpox, but the research had little value because most of the women already had syphilis.
This inequitable approach to syphilis continued well into the 20th century. This biased approach had negative effects on our understanding of syphilis, making it more challenging to fight the disease.
Cancer
The limited knowledge of the inside of the human body was due to ancient Greek religious sects prohibiting the study of the human body after death and a lack of instruments such as the microscope.
This likely explains why the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates suggested that cancer came from "bad humors" and why cancer origin theories involving other bodily fluids persisted through the 1700s.
Therefore, there has been a long history of alternative cancer treatments, including herbal remedies, naturopathy, and even as advertised in print media, radioactive water. Nevertheless, cutting-edge scientific advancements offer more hope than ever before to discover the origins of cancer and develop more effective treatments.
Epilepsy
Seizure disorders have been present throughout human history and can occur for a variety of reasons. Some experience grand seizures which involve dramatic movements of the limbs and head. For centuries, religious beliefs led to the conflation of epilepsy with demonic possession, causing epileptics to be ostracized and subjected to gruesome treatments.
The Romans even devised an early form of treatment that involved the epileptic patient consuming the blood of gladiators and the flesh of corpses, which went on to influence later exorcisms. Despite advances in medical understanding of seizures, the legacy of this religious perspective still exists in some communities today.
Tuberculosis
For the first part of the 19th century, experts referred to tuberculosis as "consumption." They believed it was caused by a saddened mental and emotional state, which they attributed to the rapid changes happening in the world at the time, such as urbanization and industrialization when there is an increase in pollution levels and overcrowded streets.
However, the introduction of germ theory provided better insight into the disease's transmission, coupled with increased hygiene and sanitation practices and penicillin's advent, practically eradicated tuberculosis.
Leprosy
Leprosy, a disease that has been subject to many misunderstandings, has caused its sufferers to be shunned and quarantined in leper colonies, such as Molokai. Some believed that the cause of leprosy was God's punishment, which led to the continuation of its stigma despite medical discoveries that shed light on its biological cause.
Today, physicians refer to the disease as Hansen's Disease to reduce stigma, and they have also noted that up to 95% of people may be naturally immune to leprosy. Nevertheless, as many as 250,000 people a year worldwide are still infected with leprosy and suffer from its disfiguring effects, including the loss of limbs and blindness.
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