Writer Oscar Wilde did NOT die of syphilis
For many years the untimely death of the Irish writer and poetOscar Wildewas attributed tosyphilis, which would have induced meningoencephalitis that led to his death at the age of 46 on November 30, 1900.
It was only in 2000 that the media received news of a study entitled “Oscar Wilde’s terminal illness: reappraisal after a century” published in the scientific journal “The Lancet” and conducted by researchers Robins and Sellars, according to which the syphilis hypothesis would not have been supported by any serious scientific element.
The fatal meningoencephalitis would instead have been the consequence of otitis media, which occurred during the period of imprisonment and became chronic due to the little treatment received in the prison of Reading. According to the authors, Wilde’s otitis had undergone mastoid complications, so much so that a month before his death the writer had undergonemastoidectomy, a cutting-edge surgical operation for the time, which involves opening the mastoid antrum to remove the parts of tissue subject to suppuration.
In fact, already in a 1958 article entitled “The Last Illness of Oscar Wilde” published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, Terence Cawthorne reported:
The certified cause of death was cerebral meningitis and almost all who knew him felt that his mode of living contributed towards his death at the early age of 46. With the exception of Frank Harris, none of his biographers who have dealt with the cause of his death have doubted that neurosyphilis was responsible for his terminal illness and that persistent alcoholic excess hastened his end. This I do not believe, because, without wishing in any way to condone or deny his habits, I think that a careful study of his life and of his last illness must lead to the conclusion thathe died of nothing less than an intracranial complication of suppurative otitis media. […] In those days the part played by chronic ear disease in the causation of terminal intracranial infection was rarely appreciated; so it is not surprising that his death was attributed to his folly and self-indulgence which were obvious, rather than to an obscure ear infection which he himself had always concealed.
Translation:The certified cause of death wascerebral meningitis, and almost everyone who knew him felt that his way of life contributed to his death at the age of 46. With the exception of Frank Harris, none of his biographers who addressed the cause of his death doubted that neurosyphilis was responsible for his terminal illness and that alcoholism had hastened his demise. I do not believe this, because, without wishing in any way to condone him or deny his habits, I think that a careful study of his life and his last illness must lead to the conclusion that he died of nothing less than anintracranial complication of a suppurative otitis media. […] In those days the role played by chronic otitis as a cause of fatal intracranial infection was rarely recognized; So it is not surprising that his death was attributed to his madness and self-indulgence that were evident, rather than to an obscure ear infection that he himself had always hidden.
Otitis: the symptoms not to be underestimated
Oscar Wilde’s story teaches us to pay more attention to the common earache, which shouldn’t be overlooked and requires an otoscopic visit especially if accompanied by Fever , dizziness , nausea headache and confusion .
in the journal
Can otitis media lead to death?
Otitis media by itself is not fatal, but it can become so when complications occur in the central nervous system or if the infection reaches other organs, as in the case of mastoiditisin which the infection extends from the middle ear to the bone surrounding, the mastoid. Mastoiditis not recognized in time can cause sepsis, meningitis and brain abscess, characterized by the presence of a pocket of pus in the brain.
Where a brain abscess is recognized, Michael J. Hutz and Dennis M. Moore of the Department of Otolaryngology at Loyola University Medical Center explain how most brain abscesses can be drained and treated with intravenous antibiotics. Furthermore, thanks to modern neurosurgical techniques, in the last 50 years the death rate from brain abscess worldwide has decreased from 40% to 10% and the complete recovery rate has increased from 33% to 70%.
Familiarity in otitis
Afamiliarityin the development of otitis has been observed, attributed to genetic and socio-economic causes. Unfortunately, Oscar Wilde’s family knew it well: according to what was reported in the study of Robins and Sanders, ear problems were not new in the writer’s family, since at the end of the 800 his father had undergone ear surgery. Just two months after Wilde’s death,Vyvyan Holland, the second son of Oscar Wilde and Constance Lloyd, will also undergo surgery formastoid bone infection.
She defines herself as curious by nature. In 2006 she graduated with honors in Biotechnology at the Sapienza University of Rome. Between 2005 and 2009, she carried out a university internship and research activity in the field of tumor immunotherapy. She is a co-author of three scientific publications. Since 2007 you have associated your passion for science with that for the web, starting the management of the FitnessEquilibrium.com project.