Wilhelm Heinrich Erb
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Wilhelm Heinrich Erb (November 30, 1840 - 1921) was a German neurologist and educator who was born in Winnweiler, Bavaria. He received his medical degree at the University of Heidelberg in 1864 and for several years was an assistant to pathologist Nikolaus Friedreich. In 1880 Erb was appointed to a chair in special pathology at the University of Leipzig and later became head of the clinic. He then returned to Heidelberg for a similar position succeeding Nikolaus Friedrich, his former mentor. He worked in Heidelberg for the remainder of his career.
Erb began his medical career in the fields of toxicology and histology, but later his interest switched to neurology, where he was to become one of the 19th century's leading neurologists. He extensively used electrodiagnostic testing and demonstrated motor nerve irritability in tetanus.
He made early observations relating to syphilis and tabes dorsalis (nerve cell degeneration). In his research of tabes dorsalis he tried to find the link between this disease and syphilis. He also contributed research material concerning poliomyelitis, claudication intermittens, and progressive muscular atrophy.
He wrote more than 250 medical essays including Handbuch über die Elektrotherapie and a study on spinal paralysis. In 1878, Erb described myasthenia gravis, which is sometimes referred to as the Erb-Goldflam disease (named along with neurologist Samuel Goldflam}. Myasthenia gravis is a neuromuscular disorder that leads to fatigue and muscle weakness. Neurologists Ernst Julius Remak (1849-1911) and Max Nonne (1861-1959) were two of his students.
Several eponyms are named after him including:
- Erb-Duchenne palsy, also known as Erb's palsy or brachial plexus palsy: a muscular paralysis during childbirth; named with French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne
- Erb-Charcot paralysis: a rare form of spinal syphilis; named with French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot
- Erb's point: an anatomical location above the clavicle
- Erb-Westphal symptom: a reflex anomaly seen in tabes dorsalis, named with German neurologist Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal
