New Research Finds that Caravaggio Died of Sepsis, Not Syphilis

https://hyperallergic.com/461573/new-research-finds-that-caravaggio-died-of-sepsis-not-syphilis/

by smollett • 8 years ago

30 9 8 years ago

olliej3• 8 years ago

It’s conceivable he got sepsis through a syphilitic ulcer of course ;)

More realistically if it was sepsis you can get that from any infection the reaches the blood stream - an infected cut, and animal bite, etc.

I’m also curious if they did test for lead content - I vaguely recall it accumulating in bones, but that knowledge comes from an episode of macguyver :)

Herodotus38• 8 years ago

Here is the paper from the medical journal: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3...

Of note they did measure lead levels and they were very high, but they have good evidence for staph.

olliej3• 8 years ago

Oh, I didn’t think it was lead poisoning (I’ll leave that to actual scientists :) ), it was more curiosity as to long term use of lead paint, etc.

Thanks for the actual article link.

jdswain• 8 years ago

Simon Schama’s Power of Art series starts with an episode on Caravaggio. The series is well worth watching and explains a lot about the artists lives.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Schama%27s_Power_of_Ar...

aaaaaaaaaab• 8 years ago

“New reasearch finds that Xyz died of cerebral hypoxia, not heart attack!”

bobowzki2• 8 years ago

"published in a journal of infectious diseases, called The Lancet"

I realize not everybody knows the Lancet but as medical professional I chuckled at this...

busyant• 8 years ago

If you follow the link, that's not quite where the error lies.

The article was actually published in "The Lancet Infectious Diseases", which is a sub-specialty journal affiliated w/ The Lancet.

Just in case that's not clear...

* The blog-post/article suggests that the research article was published in "The Lancet."

* The Lancet is a prestigious British medical journal that publishes research on a broad range of medical topics.

* The research article was actually published in "The Lancet Infectious Diseases" which is a specialty journal affiliated with its more prestigious "mother journal" called The Lancet.

* The author of the blog-post seems to have not realized what The Lancet is, and incorrectly used its name.

bobowzki2• 8 years ago

Thanks for the insightful comment!

New Research Finds that Caravaggio Died of Sepsis, Not Syphilis

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