Tag Archives: streptococcal infections

Book review: The Imaginary Patient: How Diagnosis Gets Us Wrong

June 30, 2022

Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, United Kingdom   Cover of The Imaginary Patient: How Diagnosis Gets Us Wrong. Making the right diagnosis is central to the medical encounter. A doctor always started off by taking a history, examining the patient, and sometimes performing additional tests. But when a creditable diagnosis could not be made, the medical profession […]

Dr. Gerhard Domagk and prontosil: Dyeing beats dying

May 23, 2022

Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden   “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein   Erysipelas infection in face due to streptococcal bacteria. Photo by CDC/Dr. Thomas F. Sellers, Emory University, 1963. CDC Public Health Image Library. Public domain. Dr. Gerhard Domagk (1895–1964) was a German pathologist […]

“Scarlet letters” — The depiction of scarlet fever in literature

April 28, 2020

Emily Boyle Dublin, Ireland   Fig 1. Image from page 291 of Diseases of children for nurses. by Robert Shelmerdine McCombs. 1911. Internet Archive. Scarlet fever, named for the erythematous skin rash that may accompany streptococcal infections (Fig 1), is often considered a disease of Victorian times. Associated with high levels of morbidity and mortality […]