Christopher Columbus, the man known for discovering the New World in 1492, died at the relatively young age of 54 after years of intense pain and puzzling symptoms. He likely suffered from reactive arthritis, according to Frank C. Arnett, MD, an acclaimed rheumatologist who presented the case study at this year’s Historical Clinicopathological Conference.

Historian Francesc Albardaner, a researcher from Barcelona, was one of this year's presenters

Columbus made a total of four trips to the Americas. With each trip his disease became more progressive, causing high fevers, bleeding from the eyes, and attacks of what was believed to be gout. “Columbus doesn’t embody the stereotypical portly man inclined toward rich foods and alcohol, too much of which can lead to gout,” according to Dr. Arnett, a professor of internal medicine, pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. A stronger argument against Columbus having gout, according to Dr. Arnett, is the duration of the attacks, which usually last 7–10 days. Columbus’ attacks lasted several months before he became completely bedridden.

“Reactive arthritis is an inflammation of certain joints that occurs several weeks after intestinal bacterial infections or after acquiring a sexually transmitted disease like Chlamydia,” says Dr. Arnett. “It seems likely that he acquired reactive arthritis from food poisoning on one of his ocean voyages because of poor sanitation and improper food preparation.”

This year's conference included Ladino music, performed by Cantor Emanuel C. Perlman

Dr. Arnett also points to a strong genetic connection to both the susceptibility and severity of the disease, as the gene associated with reactive arthritis is HLA-B27, which can be detected in about 75 percent of patients who have it. “In Europe, the highest concentrations of the disease are found in the most northern countries. Since Columbus was fair skinned and blue-eyed, he may have been of northern European ancestry and had a reasonable likelihood that he inherited the biomarker for reactive arthritis,” concluded Dr. Arnett.

It is widely believed that Columbus was the son of a wool merchant and weaver, born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. He moved to Spain in 1485 and received his commission to sail seven years later from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. But two historians presenting at the conference disagree, arguing that this

Conference organizer Philip Mackowiak, '70 (foreground), is joined by Frank C. Arnett, MD, and historian Charles Merrill, PhD, for a question and answer session at the conclusion of the conference.

Cristoforo Colombo from Genoa was not the same person as Admiral Cristobal Colon, an educated man born several years earlier into a noble family in Catalonia. Dr. Charles Merrill, Latin professor at Mt. St. Mary’s University, and Francesc Albardaner, a historical researcher and member of the Columbus Study Center of the Omnium Cultural Foundation in Barcelona, argued that a prior marriage to royalty, writing samples, and the admiral’s continuing interest in Catalonia’s civil strife provide evidence that the sailor was indeed from a Spanish region surrounding Barcelona that was an independent nation in the Middle Ages. The conference also featured Emanuel C. Perlman, a lyric tenor, who performed Ladino music dating back to the medieval era in Spain and Portugal.

Columbus was the 11th subject of the annual conference, which examines illnesses of historical figures whose ailments have never before been satisfactorily diagnosed. Past subjects have included Edgar Allan Poe, Alexander the Great, Beethoven, and Florence Nightingale.