PELLAGRA VICTIMS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1876, 9 October 1913, Page 4

PELLAGRA VICTIMS.

I «. ESTIMATE OP FIFTY CASES IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.. There aro probably between 40 and 50 cases of pellagra, or Italian leprosy, in England and Scotland. At least 20 luive been actually seen and diagnosed by Dr. Sainton,- who is famed fof his investigations into the causes of this mysterious and deadly disease. "It is well known, says the britisli Medical Journal," "that Dr. Sainbon has contested the truth of the maize theory of the etiology of pellagra, and the fact that the discaso has declared itself in the British Isles would seem ... to prove that maize-eating cannot at least bo the only cause of pellagra, seeing tlmt maize is liot consumed, or but sparingly consumed, in Britain." _ The first case known in England dates only from October, ]S)l2, and the journal hints that many moro nro likely to ho discovered in future. America is already a far greater sufferer, porno reports placing tho number of palloirrins in the United States as high as 50.000. The nnnie Pellagra signifies "rough skin." It is a slow, cruel disease, and leads almost inevitably to insanity. According to the latest theories, it is caused by a minuto blood-snckins flv which inhabits swiftly-running strenms.