Pellagra and its Cause

Abstract

A GOOD deal of notice has been taken lately in medical journals and in the newspapers of the disease pellagra. It is difficult for British folk to realise the scourge this disease causes in many countries, but chiefly in Italy, Roumania, Spain, Tyrol, and other countries in south-eastern Europe. In the United States of America, pellagra has spread recently to an alarming extent, and in several British colonies and protectorates, markedly the West Indies and Egypt, pellagra is a serious ailment. Persons who contract the disease present a train of symptoms which may be summarised as follows:—“sunburning” of face, neck, chest, and hands is an early and very prevalent manifestation; stomachic and intestinal catarrh; feverishness; skin rash; lassitude and weakness. Spring and autumn recurrences continuing for years further tend to mental excitement and bodily weakness, leading all too frequently to lunacy and a fatal issue.