[History perspective of parasitic rheumatisms]

For many centuries, it was believed that "rheumatisms" had an intestinal origin. The very important frequency of rheumatic diseases, and the equally very important frequency of parasitic diseases, explain that the random association of both conditions is very frequent; and numerous authors, in the past, concluded (without sufficient proof), to the parasitic origin of some rheumatic diseases. Later many authors denied any relation between parasitic and rheumatic diseases, after a critical study of papers published about the so-called "parasitic rheumatism".