percent of the population. Up to now only a few cases had been reported in Europe. Ainhum usually affects people between 20 and 50 years. The average age is about thirty-eight. The youngest recorded patient was seven years old. It is more common in men than in women (2:1), and is often familial. History The first description of ainhum in the West appears to have been provided by English surgeon Robert Clarke, who made a passing reference to "dry gangrene of the little toe" as a common occurrence in the Gold Coast in an 1860 report to the Epidemiological Society of London, but did not recognize it as a distinct entity and believed it to be a consequence of "suppressed yaws". Ainhum was first recognized as a distinct disease and described as such in detail by Brazilian physician José Francisco da Silva Lima (1826–1910), in 1867. The name "ainhum" (from the Yoruba ayùn, meaning "to saw" or "to file") was used to refer to the disease by Yoruba speakers in Bahia, Brazil, where Silva Lima practiced. The first histological studies of ainhum were conducted by O. E. H. Wucherer and published in 1872, and the first imaging studies were conducted in 1924. References External links Foot diseases Dermal and subcutaneous growths Amputations Toes