🩸HISTORY OF IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA ✅In 1554, German physician Johannes Lange accurately described the symptoms of iron deficiency in young girls: “Previously they had rosy cheeks and lips, now they are pale and bloodless, their hearts pound like crazy, they refuse food, especially meat… and often suffer from unrequited love” (Medicinalium Epistolarum Miscellanea). These symptoms were part of the clinical picture of chlorosis, as it was called at the time, along with the patients’ somewhat pale-greenish complexion. ✅Dr. Lange also called the disease morbus virgineus, or maiden’s disease, because he noticed that it receded not only by including iron in the diet, but also after the girls got married. He predictably linked blood loss during menstruation to iron deficiency. When a woman was pregnant, the disease disappeared on its own. 👉Source: Marc Bogaerts - The History of Blood. From Primitive Rituals to Scientific Discoveries, 2019
History of Iron Deficiency Anemia and Chlorosis
How iron deficiency anemia was described in the 16th century: chlorosis, maiden's disease, and the first clinical observations by German physician Johannes Lange.
