Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 190-193. (Budapest, 2005)

KÖZLEMÉNYEK - COMMUNICATIONS - Paskalev, Dobrin - Kircheva, Anna B.: Bulgarian contributions to the development of medicine - Bolgár hozzájárulások az orvostudomány fejlődéséhez

capital Turnovo. In 1935, Prof. K. Chilov published in Sofia (Bulgaria) the monograph entitled "Common salt as poison and as drug". The monograph was edited long before any other books about salt appeared. 2. Cura bulgara Introduction For about 500 years Bulgaria served as a province of the Ottoman Empire and during this prolonged time of Turkish rule virtually no medical care existed in the country. The only health assistance the Bulgarian population received was from domestic folk healers and monks (24). The folk medicine continued to play a very important role in the lives of the vast majority of the people and after the liberation of the country in 1878. Ivan Raev (18761938), an eminent Bulgarian folk healer, achieved wide international reputation. In 1922, he was able to obtain for the first time a curative solution extracted through white wine from roots of deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna). Ivan Raev used the medicine successfully for treatment of the Parkinson's syndrome developed due to encephalitis lethargica. This epidemic disease burst in Europe and the United States after World War I. Ivan Raev's treatment mode was, in fact, the first real break in the therapy of the postencephalitis parkinsonism at that time. The therapy of the Bulgarian healer was widely accepted by the medical community and was referred to as "cura bulgarà" (Bulgarian treatment). Thus, cura bulgara was the Bulgarian contribution to the treatment of the Parkinson's syndrome due to encephalitis lethargica. (24,25,27,28,29,30,34). Ivan Raev: The man Ivan Raev Atanasov was born on 17 September 1876 in the small sub-Balkan town of Sopot. His childhood was hard since his mother Nona died early and the father married again, and the young man had to cope with the difficulties of life on his own. During that time Sopot was renowned for its herb gatherers and popular healers. Ivan Raev derived his interest in herb gathering and their application to the treatment of different diseases from his father, Rayo Atanasov. Around the year 1900 the young healer left his hometown and departed for Tsarigrad (Istanbul). There he met a famous hodzha-phytotherapist who helped him complete and improve his knowledge and skills. In 1906 he went back to Sopot and devoted himself to curative activity. During the Balkan war (1912-1913) he left the town but returned again at the end of World War I (1914-1918). Later on Ivan Raev became a wandering herbist and healer. In 1919 he went to the village of Shipka, Kazanlak district (South Bulgaria) where he met another famous healer - Petar Antipov. Ivan Raev married his daughter and remained living in his house (25,26,27). In 1922 Ivan Raev managed to obtain wine extraction from the roots of deadly nightshade and successfully apply it in the treatment of a woman seriously suffering from encephalitis lethargica(29).