History of Arthritis

There is evidence that arthritis has been in this world since the beginning of civilization. This makes it one of
the oldest diseases in the universe. It is an established fact that the dinosaurs suffered from arthritis and there
is ample proof to show that our earliest ancestors also suffered from chronic aches and pains.

Remains of a herd of Iguanadons, small (three-ton) dinosaurs, 85,000,000 BC,were found in Brussels,
Belgium. From their remains, we find that they had ankle osteoarthritis (OA). This is a rare phenomenon, since
not many dinosaurs show symptoms of primary OA, but many show symptoms of secondary OA from injuries
or congenital defects.

According to researchers, due to a difference in joint structure, dinosaurs that weighed several tons did not
suffer from OA. Between 30,000 BC and 28,000 BC, a relative of modern man, the Neanderthal man, made his
first appearance. According to his remains, individuals of this time developed secondary OA due to injuries and
the difficulties of daily life.

In 4500 BC, arthritis was first discovered in human beings. It was seen in the skeletal remains of Native
Americans of Tennessee and parts of modern-day Olathe, Kansas, USA. In fact, arthritis was evidenced in
ancient tzi, a mummy in 3000 BC. tzi was the name given to a mummy, popularly known as the iceman,
who crossed the Alps near the border of Italy and Austria. Though he wasnt successful in his venture, the
mummified remains of his body does, with the pouch of medicinal herbs that he carried with him, and his
arthritic joints, which provide valuable information even 5000 years after he died.

Around 500 BC, a wonder drug, known as the willow bark came into prominence when it became known that it
had the power to relieve gained popularity when it was discovered that this bark could help relieve some of the
aches and pains of arthritis because it contained a naturally-occurring compound called salicin, later known as
acetylsalicylic acid or aspirin. This wasnt known till the early 1820s-about 2000 years later-when European
scientists scientifically studied the contents of the willow bark and discovered salicin.

Once they isolated salicin, they found it was poisonous to the stomach. Then, 80 years later, in 1897, Felix
Hoffman, an employee of Bayer Company, (a dye production company) learnt just how to isolate the
compound and make it more pleasing to the stomach. Actually, Hoffman was trying to help his father out of his
suffering, who was a patient of arthritis.
In 1899, Bayer Company trademarked Hoffmans discovery with the name Aspirin. In 1890, European doctors
found that by applying quinine, the lesions caused by lupus reduced significantly. By the 1940s, soldiers in the
tropics took a synthetic drug, chloroquine to lessen their symptoms of arthritis.

Finally in 1999, the Federal Drugs Administration (FDA) approved of Cox-2 inhibitors to cure arthritis without
much stomach damage. This has been a great boon for arthritics.

TOMADO DE:

Arthritis Basics (2007). http://arthritis.ygoy.com/history-of-arthritis/