Epidemiology
The incidence in the United States among Caucasian men is eight times the rate among Caucasian women and five times greater than African American men. Overall, the male to female ratio of Barretts esophagus is 10:1. Several studies have estimated the prevalence of Barretts esophagus in the general population to be 1.3% to 1.6% in two European populations (Italian and Swedish), and 3.6% in a Korean population. History
The condition is named after Australian thoracic surgeon Norman Barrett (1903–1979), who in 1950 argued that "ulcers are found below the squamocolumnar junction ... represent gastric ulcers within a pouch of stomach … drawn up by scar tissue into the mediastinum ... representing an example of a congenital short esophagus". In contrast, Philip Rowland Allison and Alan Johnstone argued that the condition related to the "esophagus lined with gastric mucous membrane and not intra-thoracic stomach as Barrett mistakenly believed." Philip Allison, cardiothoracic surgeon and Chair of Surgery at the University of Oxford, suggested "calling the chronic peptic ulcer crater of the esophagus a Barretts ulcer", but added this name did not imply agreement with "Barretts description of an esophagus lined with gastric mucous membrane as stomach." Bani-Hani KE and Bani-Hani KR argue that the terminology and definition of Barretts esophagus is surrounded by extraordinary confusion unlike most other medical conditions and that [t]he use of the eponym “Barrett’s” to describe [the condition] is not justified from a historical point of view.
Histopathology
Tanapox virus in humans produces increased thickening of the epidermis with extensive degeneration of the prickle cell layer. The cytoplasm of the swollen epidermal cells is filled with large, pleomorphic, eosinophilic B-type inclusion bodies. Nuclei of infected cells are also swollen, with chromatin being concentrated at the nuclear periphery. Epidemiology
Human tanapox has been mostly documented in Kenya and Zaire, but it is believed to occur much more widely throughout tropical Africa. All age groups and both sexes appear to be affected by this virus. During the Kenyan epidemics of 1957 and 1962, cases of tanapox were reported more frequently among persons who worked or played close to the river. As a result of this, researchers concluded that tanapox is most likely a zoonosis. However, neither the reservoir host nor the mode of transmission from wild animal to human is known. It is hypothesized that tanapox virus may be transferred from monkeys or another reservoir host to humans by infected arthropods that act as mechanical vectors. Only one case of human to human transmission has been reported. References
Definition of Tanapox from MedicineNet.com


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