Archaic Medical Terminology 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: typhus

Typhus is a group of infectious diseases caused by bacteria and spread to humans through bites from infected fleas, lice, or mites. It was called camp fever because it was common in places like military camps and prisons where conditions were cramped and unhygienic.

Although typhus was known to ancient physicians, it is believed that it may have been confused with other conditions with similar symptoms - high fever and chills, severe headache, disorientation and delirium. Typhus was often confused with typhoid fever. The names are derived from the Greek "typhos" meaning smoky, hazy, or cloudy, referring to the mental confusion caused by the fever. In fact, the name typhoid literally means 'like typhus'.

As well as camp fever, typhus is known by an abundance of archaic names, including ataxic fever, factory fever, famine fever, jail fever, low fever, petechial fever, putrid fever, ship fever, spotted fever, brain fever, hospital fever, Irish fever, and the plague of Egypt.

Answer: poliomyelitis

Poliomyelitis, usually referred to simply as polio, is a contagious viral disease of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). It used to be known as infantile paralysis in the mistaken belief that it only affected children. Certainly it is most prevalent in children under the age of 5, however, it can be contracted at any age.

For example, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States of America, contracted polio at the age of 39 and was paralysed from the waist down as a result.

Although the global incidence of polio is greatly reduced these days because of vaccination, the disease is still endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Answer: bubonic plague

Bubonic plague is caused by a bacterium (Yersinia pestis) that usually lives on small rodents such as rats and is transmitted to human via flea bites. The main symptoms are high fever, chills, headache, muscular aches and painful swollen lymph nodes (known as buboes). Many people are under the impression that plague is a disease of the past but it is still with us today. It is present on all continents except Antarctica and Oceania, is mostly present in Madagascar, Peru and the Congo, and is even present in the USA.

It is known by a variety of archaic names including black death, black plague, the pestilence, the great mortality, and the scourge - names which reflected the belief that plague was a punishment from God. Some sufferers developed spots (rashes) which were referred to as 'God's tokens' and were considered a sign of imminent death.

Answer: smallpox

While black plague and black death referred to bubonic plague, black pox referred to smallpox. The name was derived from one of the variations of smallpox - haemorrhagic or malignant smallpox - characterised by severe internal bleeding and bleeding under the skin, which caused the skin to turn black and slough off in sheets. Other archiac names include the speckled monster and red plague, both of which refer to the appearance of the lesions.

The correct medical terminology for smallpox is variola. Smallpox was officially declared eradicated in 1980 by the World Health Organisation after a global vaccination campaign. It no longer exists in nature, with the last recorded case being in Somalia in 1977. However, the virus still exists for scientific purposes in two research laboratories in the U.S. and Russia.

Answer: septicaemia

The ancient Greeks used the word "sepsis" (meaning decay or putrefaction) to describe the rotting of body tissue. They did not know it was caused by bacterial infection spreading through the body via the blood. They were only aware of the end result.

The term blood poisoning arose in the early 19th century referring to the belief that the blood was poisoned by the infection. The term septicaemia was created in 1837 by French physician Pierre-Adolphe Piorry (1794-1879) from Greek "septikos" (rotten, putrid) + "haima" (blood).

Both septicaemia and sepsis are correct and current medical terms. Although we tend to use them interchangeably, by strict definition, they are a little different. Septicaemia is defined as the bacterial infection present in the bloodstream, whereas sepsis is the body's reaction to the infection, which results in damage to the tissues and organs. Symptoms of sepsis include disorientation, rapid heart rate, breathlessness, fever, shivering, lethargy, not passing urine, and pain, and can be life-threatening.

Answer: hydrocephalus

Hydrocephalus is the correct and current medical terminology for the condition involving an abnormal accumulation of fluid within the cavities (ventricles) of the brain. While it was referred to as 'water on the brain' or 'dropsy of the brain' historically, the fluid that builds up is not water, but cerebrospinal fluid, which acts as a shock absorber to cushion the brain and spinal cord against trauma.

The term hydrocephalus is derived from two Greek words - "hydro" (water) and "kephale" (head). The term was coined by the Ancient Roman doctor Celsus in his writings between 25 BC and 50 AD.

Answer: infection

Historically, from the early 14th century, corruption meant infection of some type, particularly if decay of bodily parts was involved (for example, gangrene). The modern meaning - the abuse of power, position, or public office for private gain - came a little later, in the early 15th century. However, the medical meaning persisted into the 19th century.

As well as being seen in historical documents, such as death certificates, corruption in the medical sense also appears in literature, particularly Victorian literature. A noteworthy example is that of the 'Black Formosa Corruption', a fictional, fatal disease mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes short story, "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" (1913) in which Holmes fakes contracting this disease to trick a murderer into a confession. (Formosa is the former name of Taiwan).

Answer: epilepsy

For centuries epilepsy was called 'the falling sickness' because of the falls associated with loss of consciousness. The Ancient Greeks initially called it 'the sacred disease' because it was thought to be due to possession by a god or goddess. Around 400 BC Hippocrates recognised that the disease was a brain disorder rather than a condition of divine influence. The fact that epilepsy is caused by abnormal electrical discharges in the brain wasn't discovered until the late 1800s.

Use of the term epilepsy dates to the 1570s and is derived from the Greek "epi-" (upon) and "lepsis" (seizure). Epilepsy or epileptic seizure disorder (ESD) is the current preferred terminology.

Answer: influenza

Influenza is commonly referred to in an abbreviated form as 'flu'. It is a highly contagious viral illness. Grippe or "la grippe" is an archaic term for influenza, derived from the French "gripper", to seize, referring to its sudden onset. The term was used by the French as a common name for influenza. It was adopted by the English as 'the grippe (or grip)' and was popular terminology during the 19th and early 20th century.

Periodically there are global pandemics of particular strains of the influenza virus and this gives rise to some other archaic medical nicknames, such as Spanish flu (1918-1920), Asian flu (1957-1958), Hong Kong flu (1968), and swine flu (2009-2010). NB: COVID-19 is not an influenza virus.

Answer: diarrhoea

In the modern sense, passion refers to strong sexual desire or an intense craving or enthusiasm for something. However, originally the word meant suffering or enduring and was derived from the Latin "passio", which in turn was derived from the Greek "paskho". You may be more familiar with this particular meaning with respect to the Passion of Christ, referring to the suffering and death of Jesus.

When ancient physicians used the word passion to describe a disorder, it meant that the body was in a state of suffering and/or being acted upon by an external force. 'Coeliac passion' was an expression coined by the Greek physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia in the 2nd century A.D. It referred to a disorder where the intestines could not properly process food, resulting in chronic diarrhoea. Today we know it as gluten intolerance, the nature of which was not understood until the 1950s.