{{Infobox medical condition |name = |synonym = |image = |image_size = |alt = |caption = |pronounce = |specialty = <!--from Wikidata; can be overwritten--> |symptoms = |complications = |onset = |duration = |types = |causes = |risks = |diagnosis = |differential = African trypanosomiasis |prevention = |treatment = |medication = |prognosis = |frequency = |deaths = }} thumb | right | alt=A sketch of two women suffering with lumps on the sides of their necks | A sketch of two women suffering from Winterbottom's Sign '''Winterbottom's sign''' is a swelling of lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy) along the posterior cervical lymph node chain, associated with the early phase of African trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness), a disease caused by the parasites ''Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense'' and ''Trypanosoma brucei gambiense''. It may be suggestive of cerebral infection.<ref name="pmid1942213">{{cite journal |author=Ormerod WE |title=Hypothesis: the significance of Winterbottom's sign |journal=J Trop Med Hyg |volume=94 |issue=5 |pages=338–40 |date=October 1991 |pmid=1942213 }}</ref>
The sign was first reported by the English physician Thomas Masterman Winterbottom in 1803.<ref>{{cite book|last=Winterbottom|first=Thomas|year=1803|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KmSoFaa29noC|title=An account of the native Africans in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, to which is added an account of the present state of medicine among them|location=London|publisher=C. Whittingham|pages=29-31|via=Google Books|access-date=10 March 2025|volume=2}}</ref> Winterbottom observed that slave traders would palpate the necks of slaves before purchasing them, likely to prevent losses from their human merchandise by sleeping sickness.<ref>{{cite conference|last=de Raadt|first=Peter|url=https://www.who.int/trypanosomiasis_african/country/history/en/index4.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323231305/http://www.who.int/trypanosomiasis_african/country/history/en/index4.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 23, 2008|title=The history of sleeping sickness: Opening up towards Europe|conference=Fourth International Course on African Trypanosomoses|location=Tunis|date=11–28 October 2005|via=World Health Organization}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/acrossuk/worknat/full/Projects/winterbottom/index.html|title=The Winterbottom Catalogue|first=Tom|last=Miles|website=www.bl.uk|access-date=2009-03-16|archive-date=2019-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318130141/http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/acrossuk/worknat/full/Projects/winterbottom/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Cox|first=F.E.G.|title=History of sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis)|journal=Infectious Disease Clinics of North America|volume=18|issue=2|date=June 2004|pmid=15145378|doi=10.1016/j.idc.2004.01.004}}</ref>
== References == <references />
==External links== * [http://www2.ncid.cdc.gov/travel/yb/utils/ybGet.asp?section=dis&obj=aftrypano.htm&cssNav=browseoyb CDC website on trypanosomiasis]
{{Eponymous medical signs for infectious disease}} Category:Infectious diseases Category:Medical signs Category:Eponyms in medicine