SCURVY IN ADULTS

Abstract

Scurvy in adults in large centers of population is infrequent but not rare. Outbreaks occurred among both the civil and the military population of certain countries¹during the World War, but since 1920 only reports of a single case or small groups of cases appear in the literature.²Öhnell²and Shattuck²remark that the disease is perhaps more frequent than is supposed and that cases, especially in latent form, often are not recognized. Nine cases of scurvy in adults, eight of which were males, have recently come under our observation. The occurrence and certain precipitating factors of the disease, together with observations on the alleviation of the anemia of scurvy, comprise the subject matter of this paper. <h3>OCCURRENCE OF SCURVY AND CERTAIN PRECIPITATING FACTORS</h3> With the single exception of Öhnell,²who records the occurrence of scurvy in sixteen females out of the twenty-two cases he