Did You Know? - Where does the word Jaundice come from?

My Dear Sexy Readers,

To celebrate the preparations for our brand new Sexy series 'My Body Does What?'. Here is a teaser for you:
For this new Sexy Short Subject, I would like to mention a Super fact I learned from someone I met at a job interview! I know, quite a random thing, but hey that's how we roll at Science So Sexy ;)

Did You Know that it was thought that Jaundice could be cured by gazing at a Yellow bird? #DYK10
Bilirubin is a yellow waste product that remains in the bloodstream as part of our normal metabolism and is cleared by the liver.When you are affected by a liver disease, it cannot do its job properly and the concentration of bilirubin in your blood increases, leading to a yellowish coloration of your skin. From the French/Greek, Jaune is Yellow, Jaunisse is Yellowness, hence the English word: Jaundice.
Interestingly though, the medical term for jaundice is Icterus, a Latinized form of the Greek word "ikteros" and to the ancient Greeks signified both "jaundice" and "a yellow bird". It was thought that jaundice could be cured if the patient gazed at the bird. The disease would transmigrate from the jaundiced patient to the hapless bird.

A beautiful Yellow bird

If you are interested in knowing more about our Liver and what it does in our body, stay tuned on Science So Sexy for next week's first chapter on the Liver, alternatively you can catch up the infographic on Pinterest if this is more convenient for your device.

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

References
Medterms
Wikipedia