OF LUPUS OF LUPUS The History The History

The word ‘lupus’ (Latin for ‘wolf’) is attributed to the thirteenth century physician Rogerius who used it to describe erosive facial lesions that resembled a wolf's bite. The butterfly distribution of the facial rash, however, was noted by von Hebra in 1846, and the first published illustrations of Lupus erythematosus were included in his text, "Atlas of Skin Diseases."

At the time, the manifestations of the disorder were believed to be solely cutaneous, and it was not until 1872 that Kaposi proposed that there were two types of Lupus erythematosus: the discoid form and a disseminated (systemic) form.

Perhaps the most important event in the modern era of Lupus was the discovery of the LE cell by Hargraves and colleagues in 1948. The scientists theorized that the cell was “the result of phagocytosis of free nuclear material with a resulting round vacuole containing this partially digested and lysed nuclear material...”. This discovery enabled the diagnosis of individuals with a much milder form of the disease and promoted early treatment.

Two other immunologic markers of Lupus were also recognized in the 1950s: the biologic false-positive test for syphilis and the immunofluorescent test for antinuclear antibodies.