Rudy's List of Archaic Medical Terms
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Obstipation

Severe constipation caused by intestinal obstruction. [Dorland]

Obstruction of the Bowels

Enteremphraxis.

Example from a 1921 Death Certificate from Georgia:

Obesity

The condition of being obese; increased body weight caused by excessive accumulation of fat. [Heritage]

Ochlotic Fever

Typhus. [A Treatise on the Continued Fevers, Wilson, 1881].

Oedema

Literally, a swelling of any kind; but now confined to a swelling of a dropsical nature, situated in the cellular tissue, and commonly called watery swelling or puffing. The affection, when extensive, and accompanied with a general dropsical tendency, is termed anasarca. [Hoblyn1855]

Example from a 1930 Death Certificate from Ohio:

Onchocerciasis

Infection with worms of the genus Onchocerca. Human infection is caused by O. volvulus, with heavy infestations usually characterized by the firm subcutaneous nodules called onchocercomas; a persistent dermatitis with a pruritic papular rash, sometimes associated with edema, lichenification, thickening, wrinkling, and atrophy of the skin, with areas of leukoderma; lymphadenitis; and ocular lesions, related to invasion and local death of the microfilariae (eye worms), which may progress to optic neuritis, optic atrophy, and blindness. Called also onchocercosis and volvulosis. There are many local and regional names such as craw-craw, river blindness, and sowdah. [Dorland]

Fact sheet from CDC

Ophthalmia

Severe, often purulent, inflammation of the deep structures of the eye. [CivilWarMed]

Oral Candidiasis

Describes a fungal (yeast) infection of the oral cavity due to Candida. It is common in infants. [CancerWEB]

Orchitis

Inflammation of the testicles.

Example from an 1881 Military Hospital record in Hampshire, England:

Oriental Boil / Sore

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.  Also called Oriental boil, Delhi boil or Delhi sore. [Saunders1945]

Ossification

Formation of bone Development or increase of the osseous system. Besides the natural ossification, which we observe in the fetus and in the first periods of life, there are also accidental ossifications, such as those frequently remarked, after the inflammation of serous membranes, in the parietes of arteries. [Dunglison1868]

Osteomalaciaa

A disease occurring mostly in adult women that results from a deficiency in vitamin D or calcium and is characterized by a softening of the bones with accompanying pain and weakness. [Heritage]

Osteomyelitis Acute

A usually bacterial infection of bone and bone marrow in which the resulting inflammation can lead to a reduction of blood supply to the bone. [American heritage]

Example from a 1911 Death Certificate from Ohio:

Osteosarcoma

Disease of the bony tissue, which consists in softening of its laminae, and their transformation into a fleshy substance, analogous to that of cancer; accompanied with general symptoms of cancerous affection. [Dunglison1868]

Otitis

Inflammation of the internal ear. It is known by pyrexia, and an excruciating and throbbing pain in the internal ear, that is sometimes attended with delirium. [Hopper1822]

Inflammation of the mucous membrane of the ear, characterized by excruciating pain; intolerable humming in the ear, with a discharge of mucus generally from the meatus externus or from the Eustachian tube. [Dunglison1864]

Otorrhoea

Drainage from the ear. [CivilWarMed]

Ozena

A foul, stinking ulcer in the inside of the nostrils, discharging a purulent matter, and sometimes accompanied by caries of the bones. [Thomas1875]

Disease characterized by intra-nasal crusting, atrophy, and fetid odor; Chronic Rhinitis. [CivilWarMed]

 

 

 

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