Ejner Sylvest

Biographical Timeline

• Born on November 11, 1880 in Hillerød, Frederiksborg County, Denmark, to Oluf Sørensen (1850–1935) and Bodil Kirstine Hansen (1854–1936)
• 1899 – Graduated from Frederiksborg Gymnasium.
• 1907 – Graduated MD from Københavns Universitet (University of Copenhagen)
• 1909 – Began work as a general practitioner in Amager, Copenhagen
• 1909-1911 – Published early papers on pneumonia and urinary bacteria
• 1911–1913 – Served as army medical officer.
• 1926 – Appointed municipal physician in Amager.
• 1930 – Published his monograph on epidemic pleurodynia ‘En Bornholmsk Epidemi. Myositis epidemica’ based on 23 cases on Bornholm island
• 1930 – While vacationing on Bornholm Island, observed and documented an outbreak of epidemic myalgia (now known as Bornholm disease) in 23 fishermen in Melsted and Gudhjem.
• 1933 – Published Den Bornholmske Syge. Myalgia epidemica in Danish, drawing attention to the disease and its pattern in Denmark.
• 1934 – At the invitation of Thorvald Madsen, defended his dissertation in English, consolidating global historical reports and describing the illness as epidemic pleurodynia; the term Bornholm disease gained international recognition.
• 1937–1950 – Served as Social Democratic member of Copenhagen’s Citizens’ Representation; initiated municipal diphtheria vaccination in 1941.
• 1939 – President, Det Medicinske Selskab i København [The Medical Society of Copenhagen]
• 1941 – Co-editor of ‘Huslægen om Sundhed og Sygdom I–III‘ (GP guide to health and disease)
• Died on June 28, 1972 in Højdevang Parish, Copenhagen; buried in Sundby Cemetery.

It was an edu­cation to meet this serious-minded, intellectual gen­eral practitioner – just the sort of man, we all thought, we should ourselves like to have as our own family doctor – carrying his years lightly and striding through the town at a pace quite difficult for me to emulate.

Pickles 1954

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Medical Eponyms

Bornholm disease (1930)

Acute, transient viral myositis associated with Coxsackie B. Viral myositis involving the intercostal and abdominal muscles characterized by fever and sharp, spasmodic pain in the chest wall or abdomen.

In 1930, Sylvest, whilst holidaying on Bornholm Island, Denmark witnessed and described the disease in 23 fisherman in Melsted and Gudhjem. As far as he was aware, the disease had been described in Norway by Daae…but had no Danish name. He therefore proposed the Danish denomination as ‘The Bornholm disease‘.

Many prior description of Epidemic pleurodynia/Myositis epidemica…but as with many eponyms, the original descriptions were published in local language journals which never made it mainstream until the eponymous affiliate popularized the disease/syndrome.

My first paper on the subject was entitled “Born­holm Disease,” and for this I was severely scolded by eminent members of the profession in that I was in­strumental in attaching the name of a beautiful is­land to a distressing malady and that another island, Malta, had suffered from a similar implication.

…I am afraid the original name has prevailed and that is why I think it is high time it received the name Sylvest’s disease, Sylvest having done more than any man since the disease was first described to promote the knowl­edge of it. This will do away with such speculative names as epidemic myalgia, epidemic pleurodynia and epidemic benign dry pleurisy, for which there seems to be little justification.

Pickles 1954

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Major Publications

• Sylvest E. En Bornholmsk Epidemi. Myositis epidemica, Ugeskrift for Læger. 1930; 92: 798-801.
• Sylvest E. Den Bornholmske syge, myalgia epidemica. Doctoral thesis, Copenhagen, 1933.
• Sylvest E. La maladie de Bornholm. Myalgie épidémique (myositis acuta epidemica), Bulletin mensuel de l’Office international d’hygiene publique. 1932; 24: 1431.
• Sylvest E. Epidemic Myalgia: Bornholm Disease. JAMA. 1934; 103(21): 1650. 
• Sylvest E. Epidemic Myalgia, Bornholm Disease. Translated by H. Andersen. Oxford University Press. 1934
• Okkels H, Sylvest E, Vogel-Jørgensen T. Huslægen om Sundhed og Sygdom. 1943

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References

Biography

• Danish biographical research and portrait: Ejner Sylvest. Flemming and Agnes Voss – Hørsholm, Denmark (Personal communication)
• Snorrason ESH. Ejner Sylvest. Dansk Biografisk Leksikon on lex.dk.
• Bibliography. Sylvest, Ejnar. WorldCat Identities

Eponymous term

• Genner J. The Medical Society of Copenhagen 1772-1972. Acta Hist Sci Nat Med. 1972;27:1-345.
• Pickles WN. Sylvest’s disease (Bornholm disease). N Engl J Med. 1954 Jun 17;250(24):1033-6
• Pickles WN. Bornholm Disease. The Practitioner 1955; 174: 85-86
• Jamieson WM, Prinsley DM. Bornholm Disease in the Tropics. Br Med J. 1947 Jul 12; 2(4514): 47–50
• Ord AFT. Bornholm Disease. Br Med J. 1948 Nov 20; 2(4585): 916.
• Findlay GM, Howard EM. Coxsackie Viruses and Bornholm Disease. Br Med J. 1950 May 27; 1(4664): 1233–1236.
• Huang WT, Lee PI, Chang LY, Kao CL, Huang LM, Lu CY, Chen JM, Lee CY. Epidemic pleurodynia caused by coxsackievirus B3 at a medical center in northern Taiwan. J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2010 Dec;43(6):515-8.