A missing name in the history of chagasic megaesophagus: Joseph Cooper Reinhardt (1809/10-1873)
Meneghelli, U.G.; de Rezende, J.M.; Troncon, L.E.; Madrid, N.; de Moura, M.L.; Reinhardt, J.C.
Arquivos de Gastroenterologia 35(1): 1-8
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-2803 PMID: 9711306 Document Number: 485960
The book entitled "Brazil and the Brasilians", written by the Reverends Kidder and Fletcher and first published in the USA in 1857, reports the travels of these 2 missionaries throughout Brazil and includes a section entitled "A new disease". This section contains data regarding the clinical picture, the natural history and the epidemiology of a common disease in the Brazilian hinterland, which was known as "mal de engasgo". This information was collected in 1855 by Reverend Fletcher from an anonymous North American physician, who worked in Limeira, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, and is identified in the book merely as "Dr.-". The results of an investigation which aimed to identify "Dr.-" are presented, and include documental evidence that "Dr.-" was actually Dr. Joseph Cooper Reinhardt (1809/10-1883). Dr. Reinhardt worked for many years in the cities of Limeira and Campinas, Sao Paulo State, and probably had an extensive knowledge of the main features of this particular disease, which is now known as chagasic megaoesophagus (caused by Trypanosoma cruzi). It is suggested that any account of the history of chagasic megaoesophagus must now include the name of Dr. Joseph Cooper Reinhardt.