How did Louisa May Alcott die? New clues.
Louisa May Alcott is probably best known for her classic novel, "Little Women."
But it was the rash on her face in a 19th-century portrait that intrigued Dr. Ian Greaves of the University of Minnesota.
Greaves, a professor of environmental health, suspected that it held the key to a medical mystery. Now, he and a colleague think they've finally diagnosed the problem 119 years after Alcott's death.
In a scientific paper published this spring, Greaves and Dr. Norbert Hirschhorn suggest Alcott had lupus -- a chronic debilitating disease -- when she wrote most of her books.
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But it was the rash on her face in a 19th-century portrait that intrigued Dr. Ian Greaves of the University of Minnesota.
Greaves, a professor of environmental health, suspected that it held the key to a medical mystery. Now, he and a colleague think they've finally diagnosed the problem 119 years after Alcott's death.
In a scientific paper published this spring, Greaves and Dr. Norbert Hirschhorn suggest Alcott had lupus -- a chronic debilitating disease -- when she wrote most of her books.