Behcet's Disease

Abstract

The earliest description of what today is recognized as Behçet's disease is by Hippocrates in his Third Book of Endemic Diseases.¹ Jacobini in 1894 and many others later described the manifestations of this disease, but considered them as complications of certain well-known diseases such as tuberculosis, syphilis, and rheumatism.² In 1930 Adamentiades presented to the Medical Society of Athens the first recorded case of this condition.³ Whitwell⁴ described the condition in 1934; he thought it was common but did not know its cause. In 1937, Halusi Behçet⁵ (pronounced Beh-chet), Professor of Dermatology in Istanbul, drew the various manifestations of this condition together and suggested a new clinical entity, elevating the condition into a syndrome. Since then numerous reports about this condition have appeared, each usually limited to one or two cases. Sezer⁶ in 1956 reported 20 cases, and Berlin⁷ in 1960 reported ten. The