If you were to ask a sampling of individuals, a common response would b that it is some kind of strange infection.
Many people know only that it is a medical problem that produces a very painful extremity.
Though frequently encountered by the podiatric physician, this is a disease that is not well understood by the average person. Gout has been studied for years. Even physicians from the 1600's had some idea of what it was and how it developed. An old painting from that period depicts a heavy-set fellow, surrounded by wine bottles, plates of food, and the remnants of last night's festivities, holding an enlarged, reddened foot with a look of great pain. This demonstrates that several things were understood at that time that still hold true today.