Medicine:Winterbottom's sign

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Winterbottom's sign
Differential diagnosisAfrican trypanosomiasis

Winterbottom's sign is a swelling of lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy) along the posterior cervical lymph node chain, associated with the early phase of African trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness), a disease caused by the parasites Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. It may be suggestive of cerebral infection.[1] Winterbottom reported about the slave traders who, apparently aware of the ominous sign of swollen cervical lymph glands, used to palpate the necks of the slaves before buying them.[2][3][4]

The sign was first reported by the English physician Thomas Masterman Winterbottom in 1803.[citation needed]

References

  1. Ormerod WE (October 1991). "Hypothesis: the significance of Winterbottom's sign". J Trop Med Hyg 94 (5): 338–40. PMID 1942213. 
  2. "The history of sleeping sickness". https://www.who.int/trypanosomiasis_african/country/history/en/index4.html. 
  3. Miles, Tom. "The Winterbottom Catalogue". http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/acrossuk/worknat/full/Projects/winterbottom/index.html. 
  4. Cox F. History of sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis). Infectious Disease Clinics of North America - Volume 18, Issue 2 (June 2004)

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