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Thomas Sydenham was born on 10 September 1624 at Wynford Eagle in Dorset. He was an English physician and the author of Observationes Medicae which became a standard textbook of medicine for two centuries. This earned him the predicate 'The English Hippocrates'. Among his many achievements was the discovery of a disease, Sydenham's Chorea, also known as St Vitus Dance. [1]
His first book, Methodus curandi febres (The Method of Curing Fevers), was published in 1666; a second edition, with an additional chapter on the plague, in 1668; and a third edition, further enlarged and bearing the better-known title of Observationes mediciae (Observations of Medicine), in 1676. His next publication was in 1680 in the form of two Epistolae responsoriae (Letters & Replies), the one, "On Epidemics," addressed to Robert Brady, Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge, and the other "On the Lues venerea," (On Venereal Diseases) to Henry Paman, public orator at Cambridge and Gresham Professor of Physic in London.
In 1679, Sydenham gave Whooping cough the name pertussis, meaning a 'violent cough of any type'.
In 1682 he published another Dissertatio epistolaris (Dissertation on the Letters), on the treatment of confluent smallpox and on hysteria, addressed to Dr William Cole of Worcester. The Tractatus de podagra et hydrope (The Management of Arthritis and Dropsy) came out in 1683, and the Schedula monitoria de novae febris ingressu (The Schedule of Symptoms of the Newly Arrived Fever) in 1686. [1]
Dance, Dance, Dance
All night long
(Steve Miller Band)
Among other things Sydenham is credited with the first diagnosis of scarlatina and with the modern definition, of chorea, also known as St Vitus Dance.
Sydenham's chorea (SC) or chorea minor (historically referred to as St Vitus's dance) is a disorder characterized by rapid, uncoordinated jerking movements primarily affecting the face, hands and feet. Sydenham's chorea results from childhood infection with Group A beta-haemolytic Streptococcus and is reported to occur in 20–30% of patients with acute rheumatic fever (ARF). The disease is usually latent, occurring up to 6 months after the acute infection, but may occasionally be the presenting symptom of rheumatic fever. Sydenham's chorea is more common in females than males and most patients are children, below 18 years of age. Adult onset of Sydenham's chorea is comparatively rare and the majority of the adult cases are associated with exacerbation of chorea following childhood Sydenham's chorea.
The disorder is a result of an autoimmune response that occurs following infection by group A β-hemolytic streptococci that destroys cells in the corpus striatum of the basal ganglia. Molecular mimicry to streptococcal antigens leading to an autoantibody production against the basal ganglia has long been thought to be the main mechanism by which chorea occurs in this condition. [2]
Hardly anything is known of Sydenham's personal history in London. He died at his house in Pall Mall on 29 December 1689, aged 65. He is buried in St James's Churchyard, Piccadilly, where a mural slab was put up by the College of Physicians in 1810.
A memorial stone dedicated to Thomas can be found halfway up the staircase of St James's Church, Pall Mall. It was put there by the now defunct 'Sydenham Society’. [1]