Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with March 20.

Events

1965 – Cesarino Romano published a letter in the Lancet outlining the original eponymous distinction between the long QT intervals of Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome and Romano-Ward Syndrome

We pointed to the resemblance between our case and the syndrome of deafmutism, syncopal attacks, lengthening of the QT interval, and sudden death (JLNS), but, as in Ward’s case, there was no evidence of deafmutism in our patient or in her family. The syndrome reported by us and by Ward may be a distinct entity.

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1907 – William H. Park confirmed Mary Mallon (“Typhoid Mary”), as the first recognized healthy carrier of Salmonella typhi in the United States.

On March 20, 1907, a cook was brought to the laboratory to have the feces and urine examined… during the past eight years she had been employed in eight families and in seven of these typhoid fever had broken out within a few weeks or months of her arrival… Bactériologie examination revealed the fact that 30 per cent, of all the bacteria voided with the feces were typhoid bacilli… cultural and agglutination tests showed that they differed in no respect from bacilli obtained from acute cases. The repeated outbreaks occurring after her entrance in families were in themselves proof that the virulence of the bacilli had remained intact.

Park 1908

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Births

1845 – Sir William Richard Gowers (1845-1915), English neurologist; described Gowers sign (1879) and myriad neurological neologisms

1879 – Maud Leonora Menten (1879-1960) was a Canadian pathologist; described Michaelis-Menten equation (1913)

1887 – André Strohl (1887-1977), French physician; described and original (forgotten) author of Guillain-Barré syndrome (1916)

1930 – Lilly Dubowitz (1930-2016), Hungarian-born British paediatrician; described the Dubowitz Score (1970), Dubowitz neurological examination (1980)

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Deaths

1853 – Robert James Graves (1796-1853), Irish physician. Described Graves disease (1835), and Graves Ophthalmopathy. Provided early descriptions of Guillain- Barré syndrome (1828) and Angioneurotic Oedema. Famously joked his epitaph should read: “He fed fevers.” following his response to an febrile epidemic in 1822

1883 – Ernest-Charles Lasègue (1816-1883), French Physician; described Lasègue sign (1864), and Lasègue-Falret syndrome (1877) [*aka Folie à deux] 

1907 – Ottomar Ernst Felix Rosenbach (1851-1907), German physician; described Rosenbach sign (1878), Rosenbach phenomenon (1876), Rosenbach-Semon Law (1880), Rosenbach test (1880)

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Further reading

• Soper GA. The curious career of Typhoid Mary. Bull NY Acad Med 1939; 15: 698-712