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01-06-2016 | Review Article - RMD in History

No rheumatoid arthritis in ancient Egypt: a reappraisal

Authors: Jakub Kwiecinski, Bruce M. Rothschild

Published in: Rheumatology International | Issue 6/2016

Abstract

Antiquity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains controversial, and its origins in Americas or in the Old World are disputed. Proponents of the latter frequently refer to RA in ancient Egypt, but validity of those claims has never been examined. Review of all reported RA cases from ancient Egypt revealed that none of them represent real RA, instead being either examples of changing naming conventions or of imprecise diagnostic criteria. Most cases represented osteoarthritis or spondyloarthropathies. Also review of preserved ancient Egyptian medical writings revealed many descriptions of musculoskeletal disorders, but none of them resembled RA. This suggests that RA was absent in ancient Egypt and supports the hypothesis of the New World origin of RA and its subsequent global spread in the last several centuries.

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Title: No rheumatoid arthritis in ancient Egypt: a reappraisal
Authors: Jakub Kwiecinski
Bruce M. Rothschild
Publication date: 01-06-2016
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Rheumatology International / Issue 6/2016
Print ISSN: 0172-8172
Electronic ISSN: 1437-160X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-015-3405-z

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