Reprints of articles contributed to medical journals, 1895-1909 / by John D. Gimlette.
- Gimlette, John D. (John Desmond), 1867-1934
- Date:
- 1911
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Reprints of articles contributed to medical journals, 1895-1909 / by John D. Gimlette. Source: Wellcome Collection.
99/160 (page 95)
![THE PURU OF THE MALAY PENINSULA. A disease known by the Malay name of puru has never been described in detail from the Malay Native States before, and although it is very common among Malays, nearly all our information concerning it has hitherto come from the group of islands which forms the Malay Archipelago. This wholly unmerited neglect by residents on the mainland in the description of puru has probably been partly due to the tardy exploration of this part of Further India, which was only commenced lately [1], partly to the natural reticence of the natives and the suspicion with which the Malay peasantry regarded the prying eye of Western medical science, but chiefly to want of independent medical observers with time and opportunity for special investigation. Until quite recently the prevalence of puru in British Malaya seems to have even escaped the at- tention of the Federated Malay States Government, but this, again, is probably owing to the fact that the disease does not interfere much with labour, which is mainly carried on by Chinese, and, speaking generally, because it does not permanently injure the health of the Malay to any extent. The natural tendency of the disease is towards spontaneous cure. Death from puru is unusual; it is seldom fatal, unless during very early childhood or in advanced old age.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28103208_0099.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
