ellauri058.html on line 716: It has generally been thought that King Herod died at 69 years of age from complications of gonorrhea. Dr. Jan Hirschmann, a physician at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, decided to explore further, and presented his diagnosis at the Historical Clinical Pathologic Conference (CPC).
ellauri058.html on line 718: Dr. Hirschmann said he decided to focus on the symptom of itching. “At first, I considered Hodgkin’s disease and some diseases of the liver.” Chronic kidney disease covered all of Herod’s symptoms except gangrene of the genitalia. Dr. Hirschmann figured that the most probable cause of King Herod’s death was chronic kidney disease complicated by Fournier’s gangrene, which is an unusual infection affecting the male genitalia.
ellauri058.html on line 722: Hirschmann presented his research at the Clinical Pathologic Conference in Baltimore, US. Since 1995, the annual conference has examined the cause of death of famous figures, including Alexander the Great (typhoid fever from a contaminated pork chop) and Edgar Allen Poe (rabies).
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