Ringworm and Irradiation

The practice of using x-rays for the medical treatment of benign diseases began in the 1920s and peaked in the 1940s and 1950s. Radiation therapy was considered good medical practice during the first decades of the 20th century and was very effective at controlling and eliminating ringworm (tinea capitis), an epidemic that was spread mainly among children. Results were often immediate. In the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and North Africa, hundreds of thousands of children were treated with radiation therapy for ringworm of the scalp. X-ray treatment gradually came to an end in the 1960s when other effective oral treatments were developed (e.g., griseofulvin for ringworm). In parallel, studies started to suggest that radiation exposure, especially in childhood, might increase the risk for developing blood malignancies, benign and malignant tumors of the thyroid gland, and leukemia. This volume discusses the use of irradiation for the treatment of ringworm in different countries in the first half of the 20th century; the latent risk for the development of tumors, malignancies, thyroid cancer, brain tumors, and other health effects among the exposed population; media coverage; and the initiatives of the National Cancer Institute to launch a nationwide campaign warning the medical community and public about the late health effects of ionizing radiation