where did the illnesses go?

[exspelunca]

drdoug's recent comments in Venta's post set me thinking. Have we changed the names of some illnesses or have they simply been eliminated by modern treatment/prevention e.g. polio

Comments

[uitlander]

Some are mostly eradicated in the first world, although (depending on the illness) mutations & increasing resistence to antibiotics and vaccines makes it likely that some will resurface in the future with a vengence. The wikipedia page on scarlet fever (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_fever) makes interesting reading along these lines. Others may well be "common names" for a range of things that we are better at identifying down to individual conditions now.

[venta]

I'm sure someone I know said recently that their baby had had croup. I think it was "unpleasant few days of baby being ill", rather than anything more serious though.

[undyingking]

Croup involves a sort of barking cough, I think, although I don't know what causes it. One of my nephews had it.

[undyingking]

I thought scarlatina was the same as scarlet fever, is that not so? Although I've only encountered either of them in literature, thankfully. I think it's easily treated by antibiotics these days.

[exspelunca]

So did I, until next door's lad, about 30 years ago, had a feverish illness and the skin on the soles of his feet began to peel. Their GP said this was a classic after-effect of "scarlatina". Sounds odd to me, but he certainly hadn't had scarlet fever.