Robert McCarrison (March 16, 1878 to May 15, 1960) Iodine deficiency and Himalayan goiter
Submitted by Alan D. Rogol, MD, Ph.D
Robert McCarrison was a physician from Northern Ireland who joined the Indian Medical Service just after graduation in 1901 and studied some infectious diseases before turning to the problem of endemic goiter in the Himalayan region. Pulling his own lab together, he followed one of the prevailing hypotheses that endemic goiter was an infectious disease or due to pollution from contaminated water. He sought the contagium vivum, at one point using Nesfield’s reagent to purify water and treat the “intestinal infection”. The reagent contains iodate. McCarrison’s data antedated those of Marine in Akron, OH (J Lab Clin Med 1917; 3:40), but McCarrison was eclipsed by Marine. The rest of the world accepted that iodine deficiency caused endemic goiter.