Report of a case of bronchopneumonia without cough secondary to influenza: commentary

Abstract

I never thought that reading a very short medical report written almost a century ago would move me in so many levels. The first time I read it, I was figuratively looking through a doctor’s eyes, focusing on the management of the patient, and noting how the doctor arrived at the diagnosis and the therapeutics employed. The second time I read it, I was appreciating the beautiful, succinct language that was used by the author and the quaint typeset used, vividly transporting me to an era long gone and helping me to come up with a mental image of the suffering patient. A young woman “from Davao, Davao, was taken ill on the eve of her marriage, February 5, 1926.” How tragic this must have been. I ceased counting after the third reading. I may have gone over the case report twenty, or even thirty, more times. It wasn’t its brevity—four pages—that made it such an interesting reading. It harks from a bygone era, and piqued the nostalgic historical buff in me. Read more...