Rheumatoid arthritis: Another new world disease?

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  • Cited by (27)

    • A case of erosive polyarthropathy from Medieval northern Italy (12th–13th centuries)

      2019, International Journal of Paleopathology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Based on the first early robust description of this pathology by Landré-Beauvais in 1800, supported by the apparent absence of the disease in osteoarchaeological reports, it was suggested that rheumatoid arthritis was of recent origin (Short, 1974). Then, on the basis of the increasing number of studies conducted on archaeological samples in the USA and Europe during the 1980s (Rogers et al., 1981; Thould and Thould, 1983; Bennike, 1985; Leden et al., 1988; Kilgore, 1989), and the wider number of paleopathological cases among Pre-Columbian American populations compared to those found in Europe, researchers hypothesized that the disease had a New World origin (Rothschild et al., 1988; Woods and Rothschild, 1988; Rothschild and Woods, 1990; Buchanan, 1994). However, in the last few decades, new paleopathological cases dating to the period prior to the European discovery of the Americas have multiplied in Europe and Asia (Hacking et al., 1994; Blondiaux et al., 1997; Inoue et al., 1999; Kacki, 2013; Mckinnon et al., 2013; Mays et al., 2017) Unfortunately, the majority of cases reported date to the medieval and post-medieval periods, leading to the uncertainty of the antiquity of the disease in the different regions of Europe.

    • Update on the epidemiology, risk factors, and disease outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis

      2018, Best Practice and Research: Clinical Rheumatology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Finally, paleopathological findings of typical erosive and destructive polyarthritis of the small joints of the hands and feet in Archaic Amerindians living 3000–5000 years ago has led some investigators to favor the hypothesis of an environmental agent [28]. They hypothesize that RA was a New World disease that was spread to other parts of the world (Europe, Africa, and Asia) only after European settlers came in contact with Indian tribes living around the Tennessee River [29]. This would mean that RA was spread in a manner similar to that of syphilis, which is claimed to have been brought to Europe by the returning sailors of Christopher Columbus, a tantalizing theory that most likely will remain difficult to prove.

    • Erosive polyarthropathy in a Late Roman skeleton from northern France: A new case of rheumatoid arthritis from the pre-Columbian Old Word?

      2013, International Journal of Paleopathology
      Citation Excerpt :

      On the contrary, most lesions characteristics tend to rule out this diagnosis (Table 1; Supplementary Materials). Contrast between the high prevalence of RA in some archaic Indian populations and apparent lack of the disease before the 18th century in Old Word skeletal remains has been interpreted as a clue that RA originated in the New Word and subsequently spreads to the Old World at the time of the European conquest (Rothschild et al., 1988; Woods and Rothschild, 1988; Rothschild and Woods, 1990; Buchanan, 1994). Conversely, a small number of studies have report possible cases of RA from Scandinavia (Bennike, 1985; Leden et al., 1988), Great Britain (Rogers et al., 1981; Thould and Thould, 1983; Hacking et al., 1994; Rogers, 2000), France (Blondiaux et al., 1997) and Asia (Inoue et al., 1999), challenging this hypothesis.

    • A mariner with crippling arthritis and bleeding eyes

      2006, American Journal of the Medical Sciences
      Citation Excerpt :

      “Bleeding of the eyes” might describe the scleritis occasionally complicating rheumatoid arthritis. Without entering the debate about whether rheumatoid arthritis even existed before the 19th century,5 it is not likely Columbus’ diagnosis. For one thing, the pain of rheumatoid arthritis is typically not as excruciating as his seems to have been; for another, early involvement of the hands is nearly universal; the course is generally unremitting; and fever is unusual.6

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Editor's note: This article was invited in response to the correspondence on pages 354–356.

    1

    From the Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

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