The Fungus Among Us: Historically Bad Fungal Infections

03/30/23 • 65 min

The Poor Historians: Medical History Misadventures

With the success of "The Last of Us" show, we thought we'd take some time to look at historically important cases of fungal infection. We'll investigate a possible explanation for all those witch trials of yesteryear as well as a common childhood fungal infection that accounted for quite the degree of social upheaval in Victorian England.
Also, we'll have our first entry in Mike's mailbag segment. Tune in to see if he gets the question correct.
Full show notes on our website.
References:

https://microbialcell.com/researcharticles/2020a-kainz-microbial-cell/ overview of Fungal infections, Kainz et. al., 2020 (linked in BBC article)
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-64402102 BBC Health article about The Last of Us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials Wikipedia page on Salem Witch Trials
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/07/study-zombie-ant-death-grip-comes-from-muscle-contractions-not-the-brain/ Ars Technica blog post on Cordyceps
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/20/cordyceps-fungus-last-of-us-hbo/ WaPo article on climate change related to the show
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/#:~:text=The%20Salem%20witch%20trials%20occurred,accused%20and%20compensated%20their%20families Smithsonian Salem Witch Trials article
https://www.vox.com/2015/10/29/9620542/salem-witch-trials-ergotism Vox article on Ergotism in the trials
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3898692/ mirror neuron review article
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7975928/#:~:text=Herpes%20zoster%20(HZ)%2C%20a,%2C%20or%20varicella%2C%20in%20childhood St. Anthony’s Fire survey article

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK169210/ Ringworm Chapter, Fungal Diseases in the US and Britain 1850-2000

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https://microbialcell.com/researcharticles/2020a-kainz-microbial-cell/ overview of Fungal infections, Kainz et. al., 2020 (linked in BBC article)
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-64402102 BBC Health article about The Last of Us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials Wikipedia page on Salem Witch Trials
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/07/study-zombie-ant-death-grip-comes-from-muscle-contractions-not-the-brain/ Ars Technica blog post on Cordyceps
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/20/cordyceps-fungus-last-of-us-hbo/ WaPo article on climate change related to the show
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/#:~:text=The%20Salem%20witch%20trials%20occurred,accused%20and%20compensated%20their%20families Smithsonian Salem Witch Trials article
https://www.vox.com/2015/10/29/9620542/salem-witch-trials-ergotism Vox article on Ergotism in the trials
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3898692/ mirror neuron review article
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7975928/#:~:text=Herpes%20zoster%20(HZ)%2C%20a,%2C%20or%20varicella%2C%20in%20childhood St. Anthony’s Fire survey article

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK169210/ Ringworm Chapter, Fungal Diseases in the US and Britain 1850-2000

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#medicine #medicalhistory #history #historypodcast

Previous Episode

Historical Medical Case Discussion: The Death of Harry Houdini

There are many misconceptions and myths surrounding the death of the great magician and skeptic, Harry Houdini. Though many believe he may have died during one of his dangerous escape performances, the truth leads to a common diagnosis with a possible uncommon and unusual cause.
FYI: Full show notes will be posted to our website.
Sources:
-https://www.thehistoryreader.com/historical-figures/death-escape-artist-harry-houdini-appendicitis-surgery/

-https://cbc.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/02012014-AS.pdf

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini#Death

-https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28673696/

-https://www.hindawi.com/journals/cris/2021/6667873/

-https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20513274/

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Next Episode

The History of Emergency Medicine

We'll look inward this week to talk about the history of our own specialty as emergency physicians. People may not be aware that the practice of emergency medicine is relatively new in the house of medicine. Before the 1970's the ER was a very different place as you'll find out.
Link to documentary called 24/7/365 on the topic discussed in episode (courtesy of EMRA - the Emergency Medicine Residents' Association):

https://www.emra.org/about-emra/publications/legacy-documentary/#247365documentary

Sources:

https://www.annemergmed.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0196-0644%2804%2901836-0
https://www.acep.org/static/globalassets/resources/content/horizontal-timeline/index.html

https://www.history.com/news/americans-once-avoided-the-hospital-at-all-costs-until-ers-changed-that

https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1056&context=ymtdl

Support the show

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