Dr. Joseph Goldberger and Pellagra: A Fearsome Disease Tamed
BY GORDON MARGOLIN, OFFICE OF NIH HISTORY AND STETTEN MUSEUM
To live in the American South in the early 1900s, you would have had to survive an uncontrolled epidemic known for its fatal consequences. The disease, pellagra, had been a worldwide scourge for about two centuries, with no known treatment. In 1914, Joseph Goldberger, an epidemiologist employed by the Hygienic Laboratory (forerunner of NIH), was assigned the task of determining the etiology of pellagra and hopefully finding a cure.
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