Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1987, Qupperneq 125
SØGAN UM NÁTASJÚKUNA í FØROYUM
129
7. Skjal frá 1937 á Føroya Landsskjalasavni.
8. Medicinalberetning for Færøernes Amtslæge-
kreds for áret 1937.
9. R.K. Rasmussen: Er primær epidemisk alveolo-
pneumoni og psittacosis samme sygdom? U.f.L.
1938, bls. 989.
10. Skjøl frá 1938 og 1939 á Føroya Landsskjalasavni.
11. Arthur Vaag: Historien om psittacosen pá Fær-
øerne. U.f.L. 1950, bls. 804.
12. E. Haagen und G. Mauer: Úber eine auf den
Menschen iibertragbare Viruskrankheit bei
Sturmvðgeln und ihre Beziehungen zur Psitta-
kose. Serprent úr Zentralblatt f. Bakteriologi,
Parasitenkunde und Infektionskrankheiten, 1939,
bls. 237.
13. R.K. Rasmussen (Skrivað av E. Juel Henning-
sen): Úber eine durch Sturmvogel ubertragbare
Lungenerkrankung auf den Fároern. Sama rit
1938, 89.
14. Th. Thjøtta: Lærebok i Bakteriologi, Bd.3, 1944,
bls. 113.
15. E. Juel Henningsen: Historien om psittacosen pá
Færøerne. U.f.L. 1950, bls. 964.
16. Herman J. Bing: Historien om psittacosen pá
Færøerne. U.f.L. 1950, bls. 872.
17. Arthur Vaag: Historien om psittacosen pá Fær-
øerne. U.f.L. 1950, bls. 995.
18. Arthur Vaag: Ornithosen pá Færøerne. 1965,
hæfte 3, bls. 18.
19. Hans D. Joensen: Historien om psittacosen pá
Færøerne. U.f.L. 1950, bls. 899.
Summary
In the 1930’s there was an epidemic in the
Faroes of a previously unknown serious in-
fection. During the first years it was most
prevalent on Suðuroy, Sandoy and
Skúvoy, and then later spread all over the
Faroes.
In 1934 Arthur Rasmussen (later Vaag),
a general practitioner in Vágur, gave a lect-
ure in the Faroes Medical Association and
wrote an article in the Danish Medical
Journal, »Ugeskrift for Læger«, on this un-
known infection, which he called »primær
epidemisk alveolopneumoni«.
On the basis of Arthur Rasmussen’s art-
icle, R.K. Rasmussen, a general pract-
itioner in Eiði, embarked upon the collec-
tion of the particulars of all the cases in the
Faroes, which he then studied.
In a lecture in the Faroes Medical Asso-
ciation in 1936, he came to the conclusion
that this infection was psittacosis (parrot
fever), and that the young of the fulmar
(Fulmaris glacialis), which is caught in
August — September every year, might be
the source of infection.
In September 1937 it was established
that patients at Dr. Alexandrines Hospital,
who had died, had psittacosis. In 1938 the
psittacosis virus was found both in fulmar
young and in Faroes patients who died in
that year. Thus the mystery of the Faroese
epidemic was solved within a few years.