title: The diseases called chlorosis.
abstract: It is suggested that chlorosis, or the 'green-sickness', was not a single disease entity, but a name applied to at least two distinct conditions affecting young females in the past. The first ('chloro-anaemia') was a form of hypochromic anaemia possibly associated with gastric ulceration and poor diet. This form predominated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The second ('chloro-anorexia') was a disorder of psychogenic origin resembling, but not identical to, anorexia nervosa. The latter form predominated in earlier periods but also occurred throughout the nineteenth century; it was also known as 'the virgin's disease' or 'febris amatoria'. The 'green' of 'green-sickness' may originally have indicated innocence rather than a green colour of the skin.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000747:Anemia, Hypochromic / Q000266:history*; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history*; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000266:history; D010842:Pica / Q000266:history; D012923:Social Class; D009626:Terminology as Topic