Measles: discovery by al-Rhazes

Measles virus is believed to have become established in human populations about 5000-10,000 years ago when human populations achieved sufficient size in Middle Eastern river valley civilizations’ to maintain virus transmission.

Doctors have known about measles for centuries. It was first describe by the 10th century Persian physician al-Rhazes, who called the illness by its Arabic name, hasba (meaning ‘eruption’). He produced over 200 books, half of them on medicine, including a 10-voume treatise in Greek medicine.

However, it was in his book Al-Judari wa al-Hasbah, which was the earliest medical text to distinguish between smallpox and measles.

He also proposes the theory of acquired immunity by recognizing that individual surviving small pox never get it again.

He dated the first description of measles of the 6th century. However, epidemics identified as measles were not recoded until the 11th and 12 the centuries. And measles was first mentioned as a childhood disease in 1224.

Its present name did not appear until the 14th century, where it was derived from the Arabic word miser, used to describe the unhappiness of lepers.

It spread quickly across North Africa into Europe, where it was introduced by explorers to the New World with tragic results.
Measles: discovery by al-Rhazes