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Once thought to have neurofibromatosis, Joseph Merrick (also known as "the elephant man") is now, in retrospect, thought by clinical experts to have had Proteus syndrome. This endocrine disease causes continued and abnormal growth of the bones, muscles, skin, and so on and can become completely debilitating with severe deformities occurring anywhere on the body.
In the United States, an estimated 50 million unnecessary antibiotics are prescribed for viral respiratory infections.
The horizontal fraction bar was introduced by the Arabs.
This year, an estimated 1.4 million Americans will have a new or recurrent heart attack.
In 1835 it was discovered that a disease of silkworms known as muscardine could be transferred from one silkworm to another, and was caused by a fungus.