Trivia Junction

A Compendium of trivia I find interesting
...for the curious

A Protein-rich Liquid Inflammation Product

Among medical professionals, it's a protein-rich liquid inflammation product made up of cells (generally white blood cells), a thin fluid, and cellular debris. But among ordinary folks, it's called pus – an ugly name for ugly stuff.

Pus is an indication of a bacterial infection, which of course is not a good thing. Unless you lived back in ancient Greece, where physicians noted that patients whose wounds oozed creamy yellow tended to heal quicker than those whose injuries discharged a thin and watery goop.

The Greeks concluded that thick, yellow pus was good. They called it “laudable pus,” and for the next several centuries, there would be proponents of treatments that actually encouraged infections because those produced more pus.

Indeed, in the mid-19th century, it was widely accepted that many surgeries actually produced better results if the incision was purposefully infected. Even gangrene – the death of bodily tissues, sometimes by infection – was touted as an effective therapeutic agent.

Right up, no doubt, to the point where the patient died.

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