In herbivorous animals, those that eat grass, there is a large extension of the caecum where many bacteria break down and digest the insoluble cellulose which forms the bulk of plants. The appendix may be a left-over organ in the process of evolution.

Appendicitis was a rare condition until the end of the 19th Century. Since then, it has become common and its incidence is increasing following the change in diet in the developed countries.

Appendicitis, like cancer of the bowel, haemorrhoids and diverticulosis, is thought to be due to a modern diet which contains little bulk or vegetable fibre.

Appendicitis was first fully described in 1886 by Reginald Fitz, professor of medicine at Harvard, USA, yet the condition occurred in ancient times and has been found in Egyptian mummies.

Robert Lawson Tait, a surgeon at the Hospital for Diseases of Women in Birmingham, England, carried out the first operation for removal of the appendix six years before Fitz published his work.

The cause of this condition is still uncertain, although diet is believed to play a part.

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