RICHARD HAZELTINE DESCRIBED KOPLIK SPOTS BEFORE KOPLIK'S REPORT

Abstract

Henry Koplik (1858-1927), an American pediatrician, is usually said to be the first to have noted and reported on Koplik spots, the buccal spots which are an important early diagnostic sign of measles (Arch Pediatr 13:918, 1896). However, nearly a century before Koplik described the spots which bear his name, Dr. Richard Hazeltine, a general practitioner in Berwick (Daughty's Falls) Maine, described these spots as follows: I notice no phenomenon which I could call a precursor of the disease, except the early appearance of the eruption in the internal fauces might be called one. In almost every instance where the commencement of the disease came to my knowledge, this appearance was to be observed at least 36, and in some cases 48 hours before the eruption appeared externally. I suspect the coryza, raucedo [hoarseness] and tussis, which generally precede the cuticular eruption, and which constitute so important a trait in the diagnosis of the disease, are wholly attributable to this early eruption on the mucous membrane of the internal fauces, larynx, trachea, etc. I was informed by some persons, that they had pretty constantly observed a pale miliary eruption on the gums two to three days previous to the cuticular eruption; and I think I saw a case or two of this kind myself.