Aleixo de Abreu (; Alcáçovas do Alentejo,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, 1568–

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal, 1630) was a Portuguese

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and tropical pathologist. He graduated in Medicine from the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...

. Due to his notable work as a physician, he was sent to

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, along with Afonso Furtado de Mendonça, to study the maladies, believed to be endogenous to that land, that seemed to be afflicting the Portuguese sailors. Having spent 9 years in Angola, Aleixo de Abreu became a recognized expert in the field of African maladies. He wrote extensive studies on

scurvy Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum d ...

, known at the time in Portugal as "the Angola disease" (), which were later included in his Treaty of the Seven Maladies (), later published in 1623. He later on became the main chamber's physician in king Felipe IV's court.

References

1568 births 1630 deaths People from Viana do Alentejo 16th-century Portuguese physicians 17th-century Portuguese physicians University of Coimbra alumni {{Portugal-med-bio-stub

Further reading

References