Portal:Medicine/Did you know/13

• ...Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) is a simple, cheap, and effective treatment for diarrhea-related dehydration? It is used around the world, but is most important in the Developing countries, where it saves millions of children from diarrhea— the second leading cause of death (after pneumonia) in children under five. According to The Lancet (1978), ORT is "potentially the most important medical discovery of the 20th century".

• ...Arsenic in the form of potassium arsenite was used even in the second half of the 20th century for psoriasis, and in the form of arsenic trioxide was approved in 2000 by the FDA for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia that is resistant to ATRA?
• ...the term "dengue" is a Spanish attempt at the Swahili phrase "ki denga pepo", meaning "cramp- like seizure caused by an evil spirit"? "Beriberi" on the other hand, originates from the Sinhala (Sri Lankan) language meaning "I cannot, I cannot".