The Terminal Aphonia of Alexander The Great, a Silent Herald of an Ordinary Death

Even though the absence of the body prevents sure conclusions, the death of Alexander the Great remains a hot topic of retrospective diagnosis. Due to the serious mishandling of ancient sources, the scientific literature had Alexander dying of every possible natural cause. In previous works, the hypothesis that typhoid fever killed Alexander was proposed, based on the presence of the remittent fever typical of this disease in the narrations of Plutarch and Arrian. Here we provide additional evidence for the presence of stupor, the second distinctive symptom of typhoid fever. In fact, based on the authority of Caelius Aurelianus and Galen, we demonstrate that the word ἄφωνος, used to describe the last moments of Alexander, is a technical word of the lexicon of the pathology of Hippocrates. Used by him, the word defines a group of diseases sharing a serious depression of consciousness and motility. The association of stupor with the remittent fever strengthens the typhoid fever hypothesis.

First known case of Eperythrozoon endocarditis in China

Eperythrozoonosis is a zoonosis transmitted from animals to humans. It is caused by bacteria in the genus Eperythrozoon. These bacteria have a high infection rate and can cause varying degrees of damage. This is the first case report of infective endocarditis caused by Eperythrozoon. The patient had a 30-day history of remittent fever accompanied by chills and progressive weakness and gradually recovered after 6 weeks of minocycline treatment.

Effects of a humanized anti-human IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody on Nakajo-Nishimura syndrome

Nakajo-Nishimura syndrome (NNS) is a very rare hereditary disorder that has its onset in infancy with pernio-like skin rashes, and is accompanied by remittent fever and nodular erythema-like skin eruptions. The treatment of NNS is still under groping. Recently we encountered a case that was treated by corticosteroid and a humanized anti-human IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody. As a result, the fever and skin rash was not improved sufficiently, and clinical symptoms of fat atrophy and joint contracture were gradually progressing. We herein report the effects of these agents and discuss the possibilities of new treatment direction.

John Work, J. J. Warner, and the Native American Catastrophe of 1833

In 1833 the Native American population of California's Central Valley was decimated by an epidemic variously identified as remittent fever, cholera, typhus, or malaria. This article confirms that it was malaria introduced by the Hudson's Bay Company fur brigade led by John Works, based on the conjunction of weather, carriers,a nd contact and on the eyewitness accounts of Works, George Yount, and J.J. Warner. The Indian's catastrophe contributed to the American colonial conquest of the region.