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{{short description|Hoax medical condition}}
'''Cello scrotum''' is a [[hoax]] medical condition originally published as a brief [[case report]] in the ''[[British Medical Journal]]'' in 1974.<ref name="BMJ, Murphy, 1974"/><ref>{{cite news | title=Peer reveals 'cello scrotum' hoax |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7853564.stm |department=Health|publisher=[[BBC News Online]] |date=28 January 2009 |accessdate=2009-01-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='Cello scrotum' exposed as a hoax |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/28/uk.cello.scrotum.hoax/index.html |work=[[CNN]] |year=2009 |accessdate=2009-01-28}}</ref> As its name suggests, it was purportedly an affliction of the [[scrotum]] affecting male players of the [[cello]].

==History==
[[File:Official portrait of Baroness Murphy crop 3.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Baroness Murphy, originator of the cello scrotum hoax]]
The original letter<ref name="BMJ, Murphy, 1974" >{{cite journal|journal=[[The BMJ]]|last=Murphy |first=John M. |author-link=John Murphy (branding consultant)|title=Letter: Cello scrotum|date=11 May 1974|volume=2|issue=5914|page=335|pmid=4827125|pmc=1610985|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.5914.335-a}}{{Retracted|doi=10.1136/bmj.b379|http://retractionwatch.com/2011/05/27/retraction-of-an-idea-did-picasso-suffer-migraines-do-guitar-nipple-and-cello-scrotum-exist-ask-a-pigeon/ ''Retraction Watch''|http://retractionwatch.com/2013/10/29/off-with-his-paper-some-authors-want-to-retract-claim-to-have-identified-henry-ivs-head/ ''Retraction Watch''|intentional=yes}}</ref> was written by [[Elaine Murphy, Baroness Murphy|Elaine Murphy]] but signed by her husband [[John Murphy (branding consultant)|John]]. The journal had printed an earlier report about 'guitar nipple',<ref>{{cite journal |last=Curtis | first=P. |title=Letter: Guitar nipple |journal=[[The BMJ]]|volume=2 |issue=5912 |pages=226 |date=27 April 1974 |pmid=4857619 |pmc=1610876 |doi= 10.1136/bmj.2.5912.226-a}}</ref> a condition said to occur when some styles of [[guitar]] playing excessively irritate the player's [[nipple]] (a form of [[Contact dermatitis#Physical irritant contact dermatitis|contact dermatitis]] similar to [[jogger's nipple]]), which Murphy and her husband believed was likely a joke.

Murphy now points out that even a cursory study of the cellist's [[Cello#Body position|posture]] would show that the 'cello scrotum' complaint would not occur. The unlikelihood of a cellist's posture contributing to scrotal injury was raised back in 1974, but seems to have been overlooked.<ref name="BMJ, Scheuer, 1974" >{{cite journal|journal=[[The BMJ]]|last1=Scheuer |first1=P. J.|title=Musical Bumps|date=June 1974|volume=2|issue=5917|page=504|url=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/pdf_extract/2/5917/504-a|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.5917.504-a|last2=Gillingham|first2=J.|s2cid=220229890 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Murphy admitted the hoax in 2009 in another letter to the ''BMJ''<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Murphy |first1= Elaine |last2= Murphy |first2= John |title= Murphy's lore |journal=[[The BMJ]] |volume= 338 |pages= b288 |date=January 2009 |pmid= 19174435 |doi= 10.1136/bmj.b288 |s2cid= 34252130 |url= http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/338/jan27_4/b288?ijkey=d66a81e8bf7a5b950326396c2bf897e38c8b6424&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha |url-access= subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last = Pavia | first = Will | url = https://www.thetimes.com/culture/classical-opera/article/cello-scrotum-its-a-load-of-nonsense-admits-baroness-murphy-qds2v98q3pk | title = Cello scrotum? It's a load of...nonsense, admits Baroness Murphy | newspaper = [[The Times]] | date = January 28, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250511144824/https://www.thetimes.com/culture/classical-opera/article/cello-scrotum-its-a-load-of-nonsense-admits-baroness-murphy-qds2v98q3pk |archive-date=2025-05-11}}</ref> after an article in the 2008 [[BMJ#Journal content|Christmas edition]] of the ''BMJ'' made reference to the complaint.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Bache |first1= Sarah |last2= Edenborough |first2= Frank |title= A symphony of maladies |journal=[[The BMJ]] |volume= 337 |pages= a2646 |date=December 2008 |pmid= 19074561 |doi= 10.1136/bmj.a2646 |s2cid= 43774021 |url= http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/337/dec12_1/a2646|url-access= subscription }}</ref> The truth of the case report had already been questioned in the medical literature in 1991.<ref name="J Am Acad Derm, Shapiro, 1991" >{{cite journal|journal=[[Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology|J. Amer. Acad. Dermatology]]|last=Shapiro |first=Philip E.|title='Cello scrotum' questioned|year=1991|volume=24|issue=4|page=665|pmid=1827803|doi=10.1016/s0190-9622(08)80178-8|doi-access=free}} (in reference to {{harvnb|Rimmer|Spielvogel|1990}})</ref> Others have cited it,<ref name="amazon.com">{{cite book | last = Mac Suibhne | first = Seamus | asin = B00A1M5N5Y | title = A Tale of Two Letters: Doctors, The Public, The Media, and The Evidence }}</ref> although expressing scepticism.<ref name="BMC Dermatology, Gambichler, 2004" >{{cite journal|journal=BMC Dermatology |last1=Gambichler |first1=Thilo | last2= Boms| first2=Stefanie |last3= Freitag| first3=Marcus| title=Contact dermatitis and other skin conditions in instrumental musicians |year=2004 |issue=4 |page=3 |doi=10.1186/1471-5945-4-3 |volume=4|pmid=15090069|pmc=416484 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="J Am Acad Derm, Rimmer, 1990" >{{cite journal |journal=[[Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology|J. Amer. Acad. Dermatology]] |date=April 1990 |volume=22 |issue=4 |last1=Rimmer |first1=Steve |last2=Spielvogel |first2=Richard L. |title=Dermatologic problems of musicians |pages=657–663 |doi=10.1016/0190-9622(90)70093-W |pmid=2138638}}</ref>

The implications of this and other hoax medical letters for [[evidence-based medicine]] and [[public understanding of science]] were discussed by [[Séamus Mac Suibhne]].<ref name="amazon.com"/>

==See also==
* [[Coalworker's pneumoconiosis]]
* [[Golfer's elbow]]
* [[Jogger's nipple]]
* [[List of hoaxes]]
* [[Nintendo thumb]]
* [[Radium jaw]]
* [[Surfer's ear]]
* [[Tennis elbow]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1974 hoaxes]]
[[Category:1974 in science]]
[[Category:Cellos]]
[[Category:Fictional diseases and disorders]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in science]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Occupational diseases]]
[[Category:Scrotum]]

{{science-stub}}

Cello scrotum - Revision history

imported>OAbot: Open access bot: url-access updated in citation with #oabot.