GASTRIC DISEASES— BELYANDO SPEW 1749 



but one or two small spots remain often for weeks and even months. 

 As regards treatment, painting with a 5 or 10 per cent, solution of 

 carbolic acid is found useful. 



GASTRIC DISEASES. 



All forms of Dyspepsia are common, but hyperchlorhydria and 

 fermentation are especially common in our experience. 



Ulcers and Cancers of the stomach are met with at times, as 

 vv^ell as dilatation of the veins at the lower end of the oesophagus, 

 leading to severe hsematemesis. In children Pyloric stenosis has 

 been seen several times by us. We have met with one case of diffuse 

 inflammation which resembled ' phlegmon of the stomach ' in its 

 gastric symptoms, but which was associated with other signs point- 

 ing to a more general poisoning of the system. 



EARTH-EATING. 



Synonyms. — Geophagy. French : Mai d'estomac. 



Remarks. — Earth-eating is common in many parts of tlie tropics, especially 

 in certain parts of Africa (e.if., the Sudan and Southern Tunisia) and Asia 

 (Malasia, Java, Borneo), but is observed also in Temperate Zones, in Europe, 

 Northern China, and Japan. It is common in children and pregnant women, 

 It is believed to be acquired by the children being left to crawl about and eat 

 anything which comes to hand. It is also acquired by being taken as a 

 remedy for syphilis and other diseases. 



Christopherson says that it is common in the Sudan, where two forms of 

 earth are eaten: (i) Karkooti (Nile mud); (2) tafiel (some form of calcium 

 carbonate). In Giava the earth eaten consists of bituminous clay, called 

 ' ampor,' which is taken especially by pregnant women, who believe it will 

 benefit their unborn babies. In Guatemala and other Central American 

 countries natives occasionally eat a yellowish eaith containing sulphur as 

 a prophylactic against disease. In Japan it is said that the Ainus used to 

 eat a paste made of starch and of diatomaceous earths in famine years. 



Symptomatology. — The symptoms are usually emaciation and anaemia, 

 with pain in the epigastrium and a sensation of hunger, while constipation 

 is common. Earth-eaters frequently suffer from ankylostomiasis, and often 

 have a yellowish muddy or earthy colour. 



BELYANDO SPEW. 



Synonyms.— Grass sickness (Western Australia), Gastric spirochaetosis 

 (Ernest Black) . " 



Definition. — A gastric disturbance characterized by vomiting; occurring 

 suddenly after meals, and unaccompanied by nausea in certain tropical regions 

 without any immediate cause. 



History. — Under the above terminology t)r. Ernest Black has described to 

 us a disease which he has met with in Western Australia. 



Geographical Distribution. — It has long been known as a distinct disease 

 in Queensland under the name derived from the Belyando district, 250 miles 

 inland, and in Western Australia in certain tropical districts, chiefly coastal, 

 where it is called ' grass sickness.' It also exists in some tropical districts 

 in Brazil. 



etiology. — The cause of the disease is unknown. Black has found a 

 spirochaete in the mucous membrane of the stomach. This spirochaete is of 

 variable size, small and slender. 



