Path. [mod.L. (‘Reddegownde, strophulus’ Huloet 1552, and later Lat.-Eng. Dicts.), app. a corruption of med.L. scrophulus ‘redgownd’ (Promp. Parv.), corruption of L. scrōfulæ (SCROFULA), misapplied to an eruptive disease.] A papular eruption on the skin of infants; it has several varieties, known popularly as red-gum, white-gum, tooth-rash, etc.
1808. Willan, Cutaneous Dis., I. 16. The Strophulus is a papulous eruption, peculiar to infants, and exhibiting a variety of forms.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), V. 565. The tooth-rash is the severest form in which strophulus shows itself.
1876. Bristowe, Th. & Pract. Med. (1878), 348. Many attacks of so-called ‘strophulus’ … are really due to the operations of the above animals [sc. gnats, fleas and bugs].
