Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1999 Jul;40(7):1041-6.
doi: 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1999.tb00815.x.

Epilepsy and its treatment in the ancient cultures of America

J G Elferink  1
Affiliations

Epilepsy and its treatment in the ancient cultures of America

J G Elferink. Epilepsia. 1999 Jul.

Abstract

Epilepsy was a well-recognized disease in pre-Columbian America, as appears from the reports of the Spanish chroniclers of the sixteenth century. Both the Aztecs and the Incas strongly associated epilepsy with magic and religion, which is evident from their ideas about the pathogenesis and treatment of the disease. Apart from treatment of epilepsy by magic means, the Incas and especially the Aztecs used in addition a large number of botanic medicines; the use of these medicines probably had an empiric nature.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types