The prevalence of pellagra / by J.W. Babcock.

  • Babcock, James Woods, 1856-1922.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The prevalence of pellagra / by J.W. Babcock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Reprint from THE JOURNAL OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION September 1910. Pages 445-449 THE PREVALENCE OE PELLAGRA.* By J. W. Babcock, (Physician and Superintendent, State Hospital for the Insane, Columbia, S. C.) At the last meeting of this Associa- tion a collaborated report (i) was presented upon the known and estimated statistics of pellagra in this country. At the request of your committee on pro- gramme, I renew and amplify the topic to-day. Unfortunately, I must still speak from the asylum point of view, reliable statistics from the general population not yet being available from many States. Prevalence. In the previous paper it was stated that 1,000 cases of pellagra had been reported from thirteen States, more than half being in insane asylums and similar institutions. These eases were, for the most part, in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, and a conservative estimate was given of the occurrence of 1,500 cases in the Southern States in the three pre- ceding years. When our manuscript went to press in the early fall the num- ber of States in which pellagra had been reported had reached sixteen, two interesting foci of the disease having- been discovered in Illinois in July and August at the Cook County and Barton- ville Hospitals, respectively. In December, 1909, records were at hand of the existence of pellagra in twenty-six States. A few cases of the disease had been diagnosed or suspected in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Okla- homa, Arkansas, Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, California, Ohio, New Mexico and Colorado. Some of these were “imported.” *Read before Am. Med. Psycholog. Assoc., Washington, D. C., May 5, 1910. While in the following States pellagra had been recognized as present in more formidable proportions among natives and residents, more especially in insane asylums—Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Elorida, Ala- bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee and Illinois. To these we may now add Vermont and Missouri. Since this paper was read single cases of pellagra have been reported from Rhode Island, West Virginia and the District of Columbia; and record ma}^ now be entered of the discovery of an- other interesting focus of the disease recently made at the Philadelphia Hos- pital for the Insane, (“Blockley”). Pellagra in the United States.. States. Cases. 1. Massachuetts - 3 2. New York 3 3. New Jersey (imported) i 4. Pennsylvania 33 5. Maryland ..... 7 6. Virginia 100-300 7. North Carolina 200 8. South Carolina 500 9. Georgia 670 10. Elorida 50 11. Alabama 330 12. Mississippi 188 13. Louisiana 500 ( ?) 14. Texas 100 15. Oklahoma i 16. Arkansas i 17. Tennessee 51 iK Kentucky 3 19. Illinois 250 20. Iowa 2 Grateful acknowledgment is made to officers ical Museum, Washington, D. C„ for many of the U. S. P. H. and M. H. Service, and to courtesies and valuable aid while preparing assistants in the Library, S. G. O., Army Med- this paper.)