Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Allergies

  • John Bostock and hay fever

    JMS PearceHull, England Before the 1800s, hay fever, now estimated as affecting 5–10% of Western populations, was not widely recognized by physicians. James MacCulloch MD FRS, a doctor and geologist, in 1828 was the first to use the term hay fever, which he said was “a well-known disorder.”1 The surgeon William Gordon used the term…

  • A confession from a patient of atopic dermatitis

    Yen-Hsiang WangTaipei, Taiwan I am one of the ten to twenty percent of people in the world with atopic dermatitis. Allergies to environmental factors such as dust mites and certain foods contribute to this condition. Immune function is also an important factor, as evidenced by immunoglobulin E (IgE) and increased eosinophilic leukocytes in the blood.…

  • Homeopathy: medicine or placebo?

    Shrestha SarafSutton Coldfield, UKSudarshan RamachandranBirmingham, UK Homeopathy, based on a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine, was developed by German physician Samuel Hahnemann around 1790. The primary principle of homeopathy is “like cures like,” i.e., a substance that causes symptoms can also be used to remove those symptoms. The trigger for the development of this system…