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Scurvy is Back

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Scurvy, caused by vitamin C deficiency, first described by Hippocrates, is known to many as ‘The Pirates’ Disease’. Although a disease rarely acknowledged in modern medicine, we present 2 cases of elderly gentlemen found to have scurvy, who improved significantly on treatme...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Callus, Claire Ann, Vella, Samantha, Ferry, Peter
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6249652/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30479485
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1178638818809097
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author Callus, Claire Ann
Vella, Samantha
Ferry, Peter
author_facet Callus, Claire Ann
Vella, Samantha
Ferry, Peter
author_sort Callus, Claire Ann
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Scurvy, caused by vitamin C deficiency, first described by Hippocrates, is known to many as ‘The Pirates’ Disease’. Although a disease rarely acknowledged in modern medicine, we present 2 cases of elderly gentlemen found to have scurvy, who improved significantly on treatment. METHODS: This study presents a case report of 2 patients undergoing rehabilitation at Karin Grech Hospital in Malta, noted to have signs and symptoms of vitamin C deficiency. Vitamin C levels were found to be low and thus supplementation was administered. RESULTS: After a few weeks, a significant improvement was noted in level of frailty, mood, bleeding tendency, and gum health. CONCLUSIONS: The modern doctor must keep this ancient disease in mind, as it presents insidiously with debilitating repercussions, particularly in older people who are at a higher risk. It is easily treatable once detected.
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spelling pubmed-62496522018-11-26 Scurvy is Back Callus, Claire Ann Vella, Samantha Ferry, Peter Nutr Metab Insights Case Report BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Scurvy, caused by vitamin C deficiency, first described by Hippocrates, is known to many as ‘The Pirates’ Disease’. Although a disease rarely acknowledged in modern medicine, we present 2 cases of elderly gentlemen found to have scurvy, who improved significantly on treatment. METHODS: This study presents a case report of 2 patients undergoing rehabilitation at Karin Grech Hospital in Malta, noted to have signs and symptoms of vitamin C deficiency. Vitamin C levels were found to be low and thus supplementation was administered. RESULTS: After a few weeks, a significant improvement was noted in level of frailty, mood, bleeding tendency, and gum health. CONCLUSIONS: The modern doctor must keep this ancient disease in mind, as it presents insidiously with debilitating repercussions, particularly in older people who are at a higher risk. It is easily treatable once detected. SAGE Publications 2018-11-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6249652/ /pubmed/30479485 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1178638818809097 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Case Report
Callus, Claire Ann
Vella, Samantha
Ferry, Peter
Scurvy is Back
title Scurvy is Back
title_full Scurvy is Back
title_fullStr Scurvy is Back
title_full_unstemmed Scurvy is Back
title_short Scurvy is Back
title_sort scurvy is back
topic Case Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6249652/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30479485
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1178638818809097
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