CHAPTER VI 



PELLAGRA 



Pellagra is a non-contagious, endemic disease of corn-eating popu- 

 lations, prevalent in northern Italy, Rumania, southern Tyrol and 

 North America. The disease consists in a specific erythema of the 

 skin, stomatitis, gastro-enteritis and profound degenerative changes 

 of the central nervous system. The progress .is acute or chronic, 

 and the mortality is appreciable. Pellagra has been described by 

 Bouchard (1278), Roussel (1279), Marie (1280), Roberts (1281), 

 Schilling (1282), Niles (1283) and Harris (1284). 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PELLAGRA 



The greatest prevalence of this disease is in northern Italy, where 

 it has been known since. 1700, affecting Piemont, Lombardy, Venice 

 and Emilia. Central Italy is much less affected while the south is 

 almost free of the disease. It is unknown in Corsica, Sardinia and 

 Sicily. Pellagra in Italy is evidently decreasing; in 1898, there 

 were 3987 fatal cases, while in 1905, only 2359. The census shown 

 as follows: 



Year Cases of Pellagra 



1879 97,855 



1881 104,067 



1899 72,603 



1905 55,029 



1910 33,869 



In Austria, especially in southern Tyrol, numerous cases were 

 recognized between 1875 and 1905; since this time, however, they 

 have diminshed so rapidly that the number of cases in Rovereto, 

 according to Weiss (1285), dropped from 8053 in 1904 to 3503 in 1912, 

 upon the introduction of potatoes. In Roumania, the number of 

 pellagra patients were calculated at about 75,000 a few years ago; 

 the disease seems to have increased in Serbia and Bulgaria. In 

 England, some cases have been described by Sambon and Chalmers 

 (1286), Box (1287) and Low and Yellowlees (1288). Still, the 

 diagnosis of sporadic cases seems to be somewhat uncertain, though 



351 



