Medical Mysteries eOmnibus

Chapter One

Pioneers Sir Noman Gregg and German Measles

In 1915, just after graduating with First Class Honours, Dr Norman Gregg enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Had it not been for the First World War, he might have played Davis Cup tennis for Australia. As it was, he won the Military Cross. In late 1940, with Australia at war, Dr Gregg was the senior eye doctor at Sydney's Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children.

In his own practice he was finding an unusual number of birth defects. Colleagues confirmed his impression, but no-one knew the cause. Then two of the mothers mentioned that they had had German measles (rubella) early in their pregnancies. Gregg asked colleagues around Australia to help him follow this lead. He gathered histories of 78 children born with cataracts (opacities inthe lens of the eye affecting vision) in early 1941; 13 were his own patients. Many of the children had other serious defects as well.

Gregg suspected some sort of poison or infection. Most of the pregnancies had been normal, except for one thing: 68 of the 78 mothers had had r ... read full excerpt from: Medical Mysteries eOmnibus ebook