ABSTRACT
In Chinese literature, there is very little descriptive material accessible to the Western student from which opinions can be formed regarding the nature of the prevalent diseases. The diagnostic determination of the various infectious diseases from ancient medical literature presents many difficulties because of the uncertainties involved in determining the meanings of descriptive words, unless these occur many times in different connections. About ancient Egyptian diseases, we have a good deal of information from the Papyrus Ebers, which was written during the reign of King Re-Ser-Ka, approximately 1700 years before Christ. The infectious diseases were an erysipelas-like condition called "Hmaou," which was treated largely with the feces of donkeys; intestinal worms, and varieties of ophthalmia. Interpretation of the infectious diseases that occurred before the time of the Greeks is, in most instances, largely guesswork. The Greeks suffered from a great variety of infectious diseases.
