William Dabney
William Cecil Dabney (1849-1894) was an American physician and obstetrician
Active in promoting legislation for the licensure of physicians and in 1884 became the first president of the newly-appointed Virginia State Board of Medical Examiners.
On Tuesday, June 5, 1888, Dabney recorded a case of ‘Devil’s grip’ (pleurodynia), the first to be published in North America.
Biography
- Born on July 4, 1849 in Albermarle County, Virginia
- 1868 – Graduated in medicine at the University of Virginia
- 1869 – Residency ion Baltimore
- 1870 – General practice in Roanoke, Virginia
- 1873 – Dissertation on “The value of chemistry to the medical practitioner” awarded the Boylston Prize
- 1886 – Professor of obstetrics and practice of medicine in the University of Virginia, Charlottesville
- Died of typhoid fever on August 20, 1894
Medical Eponyms
Bornholm disease (‘Devil’s grip’ in 1888)
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.
On Tuesday, June 5, 1888, Dabney recorded a case of pleurodynia, the first to be published in North America.
[The child] had been taken suddenly a few hours before with violent pain in the left side of the chest nearly over the region of the heart. His temperature was 103°F and the skin extremely hot and pungent to the touch…His chief complaint was of the pain in the chest, which was excruciating and aggravated by the slightest movement, or by drawing a long breath. Nothing abnormal could be discovered about the thoracic organs, however, on physical examination.
Dabney 1888
Dabney described 29 cases in all, and “saw at least as many more subsequently, but, being extremely busy with the final examinations of the medical students, did not take notes of them.” The Virginia epidemic was notable for its occurrence in children, including one of Dr. Dabney’s, and its familial distribution.
The pain was by far the most striking feature..In character it was usually sharp and lancinating, and was much more violent when the patient attempted to move or to draw a deep breath. (So agonizing was this pain that it was nicknamed the “devil’s grip” by a sufferer from the disease in Rappahannock County, Virginia, and this name became a common one there afterward, as I was told by Dr. W. F. Cooper.) There was slight tenderness over the seat of pain in every case, but it was not nearly so marked as the pain itself. The seat of the pain was usually in the left side of the chest just below the nipple but in some of the cases there was pain in the opposite side, or in the shoulder of the opposite side; and in a few of the cases, especially in children, there was pain in the abdomen, usually in the epigastric region
Dabney 1888
Major Publications
- Dabney WC. The value of chemistry to the medical practitioner. 1873
- Dabney WC. Account of an Epidemic Resembling Dengue Which Occurred in and Around Charlottesville and the University of Virginia in June, 1888, American Journal of the Medical Sciences. 1888; 96: 488-494
- Dabney WC. The atypical forms of typhoid fever. Medical Society of Virginia. 1888
- Dabney WC. An abstract of a course of lectures on the practice of medicine. 1891
- Dabney WC. The aims and methods of medical education. 1893
References
Biography
- Obituary: William Cecil Dabney, M. D. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 1895; 2(3): 332-333
- Leavell BS. Distinguished Virginia professor: Dr. William Cecil Dabney. Va Med. 1979 Nov;106(11):799-803
- Bibliography. Dabney, William C. WorldCat Identities
Eponymous terms
- Spencer FJ. The Devil and William Dabney. An Epidemiological Postscript. JAMA. 1966; 195(8): 645-8.
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