The Latent History of Eclampsia

When Eileen was discharged from the hospital on December 13, 1893, her urine was devoid of albumen and her kidneys were apparently free of disease. In some sense, Eileen was lucky Between 17 and 30 percent of all expectant mothers stricken with eclampsia perished as a result. Yet Eileen s long-term prospects were not promising. According to one study, 40 percent of all eclampsia survivors in England and Wales in the year 1930 suffered from an eclampsia-related disability such as chronic invalidism, heart disease, hypertension, or severe anemia. Another study indicated that 33-40 percent of all survivors died from renal failure within a few years of recovery. In short, even when a woman survived eclampsia in the short term, her long-term health prospects were compromised.  

There is no record of what ultimately became of Eileen s child. It is possible that the child survived the birth process without any permanent damage. It is also possible that the toxin that had attacked the mother also attacked the child. The medical literature of the late nineteenth century contains several references to children born to eclamptic mothers who eventually developed convulsions or nephritis and perished shortly after birth. Because mother and child usually presented very similar or identical symptoms (e.g., convulsions and kidney failure), many physicians believed that they were killed or injured by the same toxins. The odds that Eileen s child escaped the birth process alive and in good health are not heartening. Today, 12 percent of all children born to eclamptic mothers die within the first few months of life. At the turn of the twentieth century, as many as 50 percent of all children born to eclamptic mothers died soon after birth.  

Doctors in 1893 had many theories about what caused women like Eileen to develop eclampsia. Some physicians theorized that eclampsia might be related to prior exposure to infectious diseases. Others believed that a particular viral or bacterial pathogen caused the disease. Probably 

Theobald maintained that such geographic patterns negated the placental theory of eclampsia, then the dominant theory of the disease. I cannot believe, Theobald wrote, that the Siamese placenta is less toxic than the Scottish placenta or that the anaemic women of Siam are more successful in providing themselves with an antitoxin than the robust women of Scotland. Theobald also wondered how the placental theory 

The doctor who first treated Eileen had his own idea about what had, and had not, caused her particular case of eclampsia. The doctor s name was Ernest E. Waters, and, according to him, the most significant aspect 

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