[Skip to Navigation]
Notable Notes
December 2013

There’s No Place Like Home: Dermatologic Toponyms From the United States

Author Affiliations
  • 1Retired
  • 2private practice
JAMA Dermatol. 2013;149(12):1424. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2013.6874

Many diseases are identified by toponyms or place names. Most are infectious diseases that were first described in a certain area, even though they may be far more common elsewhere. Perhaps the oldest example is “French disease” for syphilis, as the first European outbreak occurred in Naples, Italy, and was spread by French troops.1 Less often, toponyms are applied to rare genodermatoses that are more common in an isolated area. We have limited our note to dermatologic diseases named after specific geographic sites in the United States.

Add or change institution
×