Pott's disease is tuberculosis of the spine or, put another way, tuberculous osteomyelitis of the vertebrae.

It is named after Percival Pott (1714-1788), an English surgeon who wrote that, in the paraplegia due to tuberculosis, the paralysis was due to the infection of the cord and advised drainage (cord compression is the likely cause of paralysis here). He is actually better known for Pott's fracture (of the ankle).

Evidence of Pott's disease has been found in Egyptian mummies thousands of years old.

Pott's" dis*ease" (?). Med.

Caries of the vertebrae, frequently resulting in curvature of the spine and paralysis of the lower extremities; -- so named from Percival Pott, an English surgeon.

Pott's fracture, a fracture of the lower end of the fibula, with displacement of the tibia.

Dunglison.

© Webster 1913.