Nathan Edwin Brill


Nathan Edwin Brill was an American physician who, while at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, discovered Brill-Zinsser disease, a late relapse of epidemic typhus.

Biography

Brill was born in New York City and earned his medical degree at New York University College in 1880. He completed his internship at the Bellevue Hospital in 1881.
In 1882 he was appointed physician at the Mount Sinai Hospital, later becoming professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Brill's medical accomplishments include:
Brill-Zinsser Disease is a form of epidemic typhus that occurs only in patients who have previously been infected by Rickettsia prowazekiithat was most likely transmitted to the body through lice. Brill's Disease itself is not related to the presence of louse, but instead appears randomly many years after the original infection. The same symptoms seen in patients suffering from epidemic typhus are seen in patients with Brill's Disease, only in less severe form. Brill's Disease can affect patients for the entirety of their lives, with cases being documented after more than forty years of contracting epidemic typhus.