1888 - 89 .] Dr R. W. Felkin on Tropical Diseases. 
311 
XVII. Tropical Abscess of the Liver. 
(See Plate XIII.) 
Synon . — Hepatic Abscess; Fr. Absces du Foie; Ger. Leberabscess. 
Definition . — An abscess of the liver, due to hepatitis, sometimes, 
but not always, associated with malaria or dysentery. 
Geographical Distribution . — Tropical abscess of the liver is met 
with all over the Indian Peninsula, except in the very highest 
altitudes, but it is most frequent in the Madras Presidency. It also 
occurs in Ceylon, in Burmah and in the Peninsula of Malacca. In 
Cochin-China, the Chinese ports, and in the southern and subtropical 
parts of Japan it is not so frequently met with, and it is exceedingly 
rare in the northern parts of Japan. The chief seats of the disease 
in the East Indies are the coast of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, and 
the island of Luchon (Philippines). It is much less frequently 
found in Banka, Celebes, Moluccas, the Riouw-Lingga Archipelago, 
and the Andamans. It occurs in Polynesia, especially in New 
Caledonia, and more rarely in the Hawaiian Islands and Tahiti. 
Tropical abscess of the liver is very prevalent in the tropical parts 
of Persia and Arabia, especially in the neighbourhood of the Persian 
Gulf and Red Sea. 
In African regions the disease is most often found in Reunion, 
Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nubia, and Egypt; less 
frequently on the Zanzibar coast ; it is very prevalent in 
Senegambia, on the coast of the Bight of Benin and the Bight of 
Biafra, on the Slave and Gold Coasts, and on the island of Fernando 
Po. But along the coast further south it becomes less prevalent, 
and is extremely rare south of the Congo. 
In South America it is found in Chili, especially in the north, 
in the coast and forest regions of Peru, in Venezuela, and rarely in 
Brazil and Guiana. It occurs in Panama, and is said to be known 
in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Salvador. The disease is some- 
times to be seen in Mexico, more especially on the west coast. 
In Europe abscess of the liver occurs in Turkey and Greece, 
southern Italy, and southern Spain. 
Remarks . — Although abscess of the liver is occasionally met with 
in temperate zones, it is of endemic occurrence only in the tropics. 
