MadSci Network: Medicine
Query:

Re: Who proved that fever was not a disease but a symptom of disease

Date: Tue Jan 26 23:00:07 1999
Posted By: Jeff Kahl, Grad student, Dental Student, University of Colorado School of Dentistry
Area of science: Medicine
ID: 910322923.Me
Message:

I checked around some and couldn't find a specific historical reference to your question. I believe that it was the ancient Greeks who first described the four signs/symptoms that we attribute to injury or infection: Pain, Redness, Swelling, and Heat. I don't believe that they called these symptoms a disease, I am sure though that they had little understanding of what caused these symptoms to occur. History is full of fanciful stories of how sickness was caused by witches, demons, or un- happy gods. Modern medicine is a relatively young science that has progressed mostly in the last one hundred years or so. I hope that this helps to at least give you an idea of when the concept of disease leading to fever may have occured.


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