Page:Tropical Diseases.djvu/492

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450
PELLAGRA
[CHAP.

pellagra, quotes experimental evidence to the effect that deficient fresh animal and leguminous food and excess of starchy foods induce pellagra. He recommends a diet in accordance with this view—a view held by many of his compatriots, and supported, though by no means established, by the fact that the attendants of pellagrins in asylums and elsewhere do not contract the disease as they possibly might were it of germ origin.

Fig. 72.—Simulium pupa in cocoon. (Drawn by W. McDonald.)

Since the establishment of the vitamine theory of beriberi and scurvy a similar etiology has been suggested for pellagra.

Symptoms.—Pellagra visually begins with feelings of weakness and a consequent disinclination to work. The patient is pale, has a peculiar staring look, and complains of headache, giddiness, and vague