1 - This indeed is a very interesting and important glossary. I understand it requires an indepth look but at first glance, I found two things to comment on. One of them is actually more of a question than a comment.
Pustular psoriasis is a very uncommon form of soriasis and as the word indicates it is accompanied by pustules (tiny vesicles that contain pus). I don't remember "quoroqor" being that uncommon and I don't remember pustules being a prominent feature of the disease. What do you think?
I think the medical term for "madyat" is melasma. (Comment this)
2 - lots of the kids at school have some strange very unattractive bumps all around their mouth. and they bleed and it seems contagious. what the hell is that? and why don't parents seem to do anything about it? (Comment this)
Sara, how about sending us a representative picture of those bumps and the surrounding area (mouth)? Do these bumps disappear on their own? Is there a sesonal relationship or have you seen them all year around? If it is molluscum contagiosum which it sounds like it is, then it is not a serious disease and will disappear within a few months (most times that is). It is contagious through direct contact or by sharing items such as towels. It is caused by poxvirus and since it is a viral disease, you just have to wait until it disappears although people that depend on their looks for a living (in the western world) prefer to get the bumps frozen and scraped off. Yeah, try doing this in Ethiopia. here is a pic of molluscum contagiosum
Yekolo, I do think "qoroqor" is tinea capitis (a fungal infection) and appropriately treated with antifungal creams. Alopecia, on the other hand, is a very broad term to mean "hair loss." The correct term for what we call "lash" is "alopecia areata." Here is a pic of alopecia areata
6 - Wegesha and Yekolo
Thanks for the feedback.
Re: qoreqor
Wegesha, I do not also remember these with pustules. Instead I remember them as itchy dark brown scabs which reveal wounds if they are peeled off through vigorous scratching. But could it be that the scabs cover pustules underneath?
Qoreqor are definitely more like scaly wounds than tinea capitis which appear as round patches of hair loss on the scalp. Qoreqor and buha affect the scalp and they tend to occur together. Even the Amharic saying ‘be-buha lay qoreqor’ suggests interrelatedness of the skin disorders. That is why I am inclined to think that qoreqor is a form of psoriasis. Could it be guttate (if not pustule) psoriasis?
Re: quaqucha
I think Yekolo’s friend contribution in providing the medical term for these skin disorder is notable. The description and symptoms of tinea versicolor apply to quaqucha. This link even has a picture: http://www.healthinplainenglish.com/health/skin/tinea_versicolor/index.htm
Re: madiyat
Thanks also for the medical term for this. Melasma or chloasma sounds the appropriate term. There is one concern though. The common association of the latter with pregnancy or with the use of contraceptive makes you wonder whether it is one and the same as madiyat.
Re: lash
Alopecia, the medical term for hair loss or baldness, appears to be unconvincing to define lash. The latter term describes small round patch(es) of hair loss on the scalp leaving itchy smooth skin. Traditional belief attributes the loss of hair and the smoothness of the scalp in the affected area to the effects of licking by the ‘poisonous’ tongue of a lizard called lashit or lash. In fact the name of the skin disorder is taken from the poor creature, the supposed cause of it. Alopecia seems to refer to berannet, melat’annet or yet’egur mergef.
Re: tchoq and tchirt
Yekolo’s list put these two as fungal disorders since the medical names are prefixed with tinea: tchoq (=tinea pedis) and tchirt (=tinea corporis). The first is commonly known as athlete’s foot, and though the cracking of the skin between the toes makes it similar to tchoq, I doubt if it is the same. Tchoq is more a cracking of the skin under (and sometimes between) the toes, caused when soles of the feet are subjected to prolonged exposure to cold ground. That is why children and adults going barefoot in kiremt (long rains) tend to have it. By contrast those who wear shoes remain unaffected. As far as I remember, tchoq also does not produce scale on the soles of the feet as does tinea pedis.
The second, tchirt, is characterised by itchy rash, and the cause of it is traditionally attributed to spitting on the affected area. Though this explanation may not be scientific, the fact that it appears as dense and rough rashes, and that it is not contagious suggest that it is far from being a fungal disorder. Moreover tinea corporis appears as circular patches, not as rashes, on the skin.
Sara,
Assuming that the children referred to are kids in Ethiopia, the ‘bleeding’, ‘unattractive bumps’ around their mouth could be what is known in Amharic as girrifat or mich (=sunburn). Girifat is common among children, especially during religious feasts, when they tend to go out into the sun after meals with the lips and skin around the mouth smeared with fatty food. Some even take their gibb-gibb against qiltim or salle-ayset’ bones to the field. (Who haven’t tried as a kid to pick with their teeth teasing tiny morsels of meat off these bones?) It seems exposure to radiation in such condition cause ulcers which look like cold sores. But as far as I know girifat are not contagious. Parents try to prevent children from going out without washing their hands and mouth properly. But trying is one thing, succeeding another. On the whole if parents do not make much fuss about the sores, it is because they heal on their own.
7 - just wanted to add one more thing. I have never heard the word "anguz" before but from the given discription in English, I think a keloid seems an appropriate term. (Comment this)
9 - had to finish my breakfast before i got fully into looking/reading about skin disorders.
(yes i'm talking about kids in ethiopia)
the first picture is exactly what the kids have. i didn't know it went away by itself. it looks rather painful for them.
i've also seen those bald patches on the kids.
it seems the heat and cold are more than just forms of weather here. can you really say that the hot sun combined with some fatty food creates it? most of the kids in the other class have those bumps. and it's this same class that is never allowed outside to play. i can't see the sun being the cause. (Comment this)
Pustular psoriasis is a very uncommon form of soriasis and as the word indicates it is accompanied by pustules (tiny vesicles that contain pus). I don't remember "quoroqor" being that uncommon and I don't remember pustules being a prominent feature of the disease. What do you think?
I think the medical term for "madyat" is melasma. (Comment this)
lash - alopecia
madiat - melasama
qoreqor - tinea capitis
quaqucha - tinea versicola
yayn begunj - stye, hordeolum
chert - tinea corporis
choq - tinea pedis (Comment this)
One of my friends thinks that it is "kintarot" or mollascum (Comment this)
Sara, how about sending us a representative picture of those bumps and the surrounding area (mouth)? Do these bumps disappear on their own? Is there a sesonal relationship or have you seen them all year around? If it is molluscum contagiosum which it sounds like it is, then it is not a serious disease and will disappear within a few months (most times that is). It is contagious through direct contact or by sharing items such as towels. It is caused by poxvirus and since it is a viral disease, you just have to wait until it disappears although people that depend on their looks for a living (in the western world) prefer to get the bumps frozen and scraped off. Yeah, try doing this in Ethiopia. here is a pic of molluscum contagiosum
Yekolo, I do think "qoroqor" is tinea capitis (a fungal infection) and appropriately treated with antifungal creams. Alopecia, on the other hand, is a very broad term to mean "hair loss." The correct term for what we call "lash" is "alopecia areata." Here is a pic of alopecia areata
(Comment this)Thanks for the feedback.
Re: qoreqor
Wegesha, I do not also remember these with pustules. Instead I remember them as itchy dark brown scabs which reveal wounds if they are peeled off through vigorous scratching. But could it be that the scabs cover pustules underneath?
Qoreqor are definitely more like scaly wounds than tinea capitis which appear as round patches of hair loss on the scalp. Qoreqor and buha affect the scalp and they tend to occur together. Even the Amharic saying ‘be-buha lay qoreqor’ suggests interrelatedness of the skin disorders. That is why I am inclined to think that qoreqor is a form of psoriasis. Could it be guttate (if not pustule) psoriasis?
Re: quaqucha
I think Yekolo’s friend contribution in providing the medical term for these skin disorder is notable. The description and symptoms of tinea versicolor apply to quaqucha. This link even has a picture: http://www.healthinplainenglish.com/health/skin/tinea_versicolor/index.htm
Re: madiyat
Thanks also for the medical term for this. Melasma or chloasma sounds the appropriate term. There is one concern though. The common association of the latter with pregnancy or with the use of contraceptive makes you wonder whether it is one and the same as madiyat.
Re: lash
Alopecia, the medical term for hair loss or baldness, appears to be unconvincing to define lash. The latter term describes small round patch(es) of hair loss on the scalp leaving itchy smooth skin. Traditional belief attributes the loss of hair and the smoothness of the scalp in the affected area to the effects of licking by the ‘poisonous’ tongue of a lizard called lashit or lash. In fact the name of the skin disorder is taken from the poor creature, the supposed cause of it. Alopecia seems to refer to berannet, melat’annet or yet’egur mergef.
Re: tchoq and tchirt
Yekolo’s list put these two as fungal disorders since the medical names are prefixed with tinea: tchoq (=tinea pedis) and tchirt (=tinea corporis). The first is commonly known as athlete’s foot, and though the cracking of the skin between the toes makes it similar to tchoq, I doubt if it is the same. Tchoq is more a cracking of the skin under (and sometimes between) the toes, caused when soles of the feet are subjected to prolonged exposure to cold ground. That is why children and adults going barefoot in kiremt (long rains) tend to have it. By contrast those who wear shoes remain unaffected. As far as I remember, tchoq also does not produce scale on the soles of the feet as does tinea pedis.
The second, tchirt, is characterised by itchy rash, and the cause of it is traditionally attributed to spitting on the affected area. Though this explanation may not be scientific, the fact that it appears as dense and rough rashes, and that it is not contagious suggest that it is far from being a fungal disorder. Moreover tinea corporis appears as circular patches, not as rashes, on the skin.
Sara,
Assuming that the children referred to are kids in Ethiopia, the ‘bleeding’, ‘unattractive bumps’ around their mouth could be what is known in Amharic as girrifat or mich (=sunburn). Girifat is common among children, especially during religious feasts, when they tend to go out into the sun after meals with the lips and skin around the mouth smeared with fatty food. Some even take their gibb-gibb against qiltim or salle-ayset’ bones to the field. (Who haven’t tried as a kid to pick with their teeth teasing tiny morsels of meat off these bones?) It seems exposure to radiation in such condition cause ulcers which look like cold sores. But as far as I know girifat are not contagious. Parents try to prevent children from going out without washing their hands and mouth properly. But trying is one thing, succeeding another. On the whole if parents do not make much fuss about the sores, it is because they heal on their own.
(Comment this)
It would be nice if you could expand on http://yekolotemari.blog.com/298958/ .
Thanks, (Comment this)
(yes i'm talking about kids in ethiopia)
the first picture is exactly what the kids have. i didn't know it went away by itself. it looks rather painful for them.
i've also seen those bald patches on the kids.
it seems the heat and cold are more than just forms of weather here. can you really say that the hot sun combined with some fatty food creates it? most of the kids in the other class have those bumps. and it's this same class that is never allowed outside to play. i can't see the sun being the cause. (Comment this)