THE WORD ORIGIN AND PECULIAR BELIEFS ABOUT JAUNDICE

Jaundice (“Icterus“) has attracted the attention of physicians and researchers for more than 2500 years, as documented on clay tablets from Bronze Age Mesopotamia and repeatedly in the Old Testament.The ancients related jaundice, the yellow discoloration of eyes and skin, to impaired drainage of bile—an entity termed constipation (émpraxis, ἔμφραξις) of the liver or liver obstruction, by the Byzantine physician Alexander Trallianus (525–605 CE) and others, even though little was known about the underlying fundamental pathophysiological mechanisms until the beginning of the 20th century. At any rate, because bile is a “hidden” secretion and sampling would require access to the abdominal cavity and its contents, knowledge about bile and its yellow pigment, bilirubin, lagged behind our understanding of other body fluids, such as urine and saliva, and their components.This article reviews historical sources and studies of jaundice, from the observations and myths of the ancient world to the experimental findings of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Considering the mountain of outstanding contributions to this topic over the centuries, this overview will inevitably be incomplete with respect to accreditation. At the outset, we therefore apologize to those esteemed authors if we have not cited many of the excellent reports of their discoveries.

The word icterus is a Latinized form of the Greek ίκτερος ikteros, which to the ancient Greeks signified both the yellow discoloration of the jaundiced patient and a small bird with golden‐yellow plumage, the colorful Old World passerine.Oriolus oriolus, the binomial nomenclature for Old World golden orioles, is derived phonetically from the Latin aureolus for gold. In medieval England, the oriole was called a woodwele, a name derived onomatopoeically from its song. 

The term jaundice has evolved from the Old French jaunisse (modern jaunise)—which itself comes from jaune, meaning “yellow”—by the subconscious insertion of the sound “d” to facilitate pronunciation. It was thought that jaundice, described as “when the body is yellow, yellow the face, and the flesh is trembling” & could be cured by having the icteric patient gaze at a golden oriole. The often deadly disease underlying the jaundice would then mysteriously be transferred from the patient to the hapless bird. This article explains why the golden oriole is not threatened with extinction anymore, and its fluting birdsong, a pleasurable weela‐wee‐ooo or or‐iii‐ole (contrasted with its screeching call), can still be enjoyed nowadays. Whereas the Greeks were quite unambiguous when describing icterus and its avian cure, not so were the authors of the Old Testament and the (Babylonian) Talmud.Here too, however, the most well‐known cure was avian, but instead of telemedicine, that is, gazing at the bird from afar, one (or more, as needed) of the ill‐fated Columbidae family in this pigeon remedy (or segula) was placed on the patient's umbilicus to draw out the yellowness, invariably leading to the demise of the bird and one hopes the survival of the patient, although this was not always assured. Moreover, it is not clear whether Yerakon, the Biblical Hebrew word usually taken to mean “yellow,” in fact denoted a greenish pallor, as in the anemia of young women called the “Disease of Virgins” by the 16th‐century German physician Johannes Lange. This same pale affliction was coined in 1615 as chlorosis (the “green sickness”) by Montpellier Professor of Medicine Jean Varandal, from the Greek χλωρός chloros, meaning greenish yellow. The renowned English physician Thomas Sydenham (1624–1689) considered chlorosis to be a hysterical disease, yet it became fashionably common among Victorian young women.

CAUSES OF JAUNDICE

Causes of jaundice vary from relatively benign to potentially fatal.High unconjugated bilirubin may be due to excess red blood cell breakdown, large bruises, genetic conditions such as Gilbert's syndrome, not eating for a prolonged period of time, newborn jaundice, or thyroid problem.High conjugated bilirubin may be due to liver diseases such as cirrhosis or hepatitis, infections, medications, or blockage of the bile duct, due to factors including gallstones, cancer, or pancreatitis.Other conditions can also cause yellowish skin, but are not jaundice, including carotenemia, which can develop from eating large amounts of foods containing carotene—or medications such as rifampin.

Some possible underlying conditions and causes of jaundice include:

Side effects of certain medications

Gallstone disease.

Excessive alcohol consumption

Gallbladder or pancreatic cancer

Cirrhosis, which is a disease that causes scar tissue to replace healthy tissue in the liver

Hepatitis or other liver infections

Hemolytic anemia

JAUNDICE IN NEWBORN

KERNICTERUS

Kernicterus is a rare but serious complication of untreated jaundice in babies. It's caused by excess bilirubin damaging the brain or central nervous system.

In newborn babies with very high levels of bilirubin in the blood (hyperbilirubinaemia), the bilirubin can cross the thin layer of tissue that separates the brain and blood (the blood-brain barrier).

The bilirubin can damage the brain and spinal cord, which can be life-threatening.

Brain damage caused by high levels of bilirubin is also called bilirubin encephalopathy.

If significant brain damage occurs before treatment, a child can develop serious and permanent problems, such as:

cerebral palsy (a condition that affects movement and co-ordination)

hearing loss (which can range from mild to severe)

learning disabilities

involuntary twitching of different parts of their body

problems maintaining normal eye movements (people affected by kernicterus have a tendency to gaze upwards or from side to side, rather than straight ahead) poor development of the teeth.

TYPES OF ICTERUS

There are four main types of jaundice, which are grouped by where the bilirubin collects in your body.

Prehepatic

If bilirubin builds up before blood enters the liver, it's known as prehepatic jaundice. This means you're breaking down red blood cells and creating more bilirubin than your liver can process.

Hepatic

If  patient liver isn't able to process bilirubin well, it's called hepatic jaundice.

Patirnt develops jaundice,pale stools,& dark urine.

Posthepatic

Posthepatic jaundice is when bilirubin builds up after passing through the liver and body can't clear it quickly enough. 

Obstructive jaundice 

This condition is when bile isn't able to drain into the intestines because of a blocked or narrow bile or pancreatic duct. This type of jaundice has a high death rate, so it's important to catch and treat it early.

DIAGNOSIS 

While diagnosing jaundice, medical professionals look for indicators of liver illness, such as:

Bruising of the skin

Spider angiomas or the abnormal collection of blood vessels near the surface of the skin

Redness on the palms (red coloration of the palms and fingertips).

Conjugated jaundice is indicated by a positive bilirubin result from a urine test. Serum tests should be used to corroborate the results of the urinalysis. The complete blood count (CBC) and bilirubin levels will be part of the serum testing.