On the endemic haematuria of the south-east coast of Africa / by the late Vasy Lyle ; with an introduction by John Harley ; communicated by John Harley.

  • Lyle, Vasy.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the endemic haematuria of the south-east coast of Africa / by the late Vasy Lyle ; with an introduction by John Harley ; communicated by John Harley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    18/22 (page 16)
    of the disease being contracted by drinking or bathing in the impure waters of infested districts, and my observa- tions go to support this conclusion; but in the last of his published papers which I have seen he goes further, and his attention having been drawn to the existence in Natal of a peculiar ulcerous affection of the skin, locally known as Natal sores, he suggests that this may be a local phenomenon arising from the reception of the Bilharzia in one stage of its growth, and may mark the first stage of its introduction into the system. My acquaintance with the so-called Natal sores has been extensive, and I soon ascertained that the term is used by the laity to mean any ulcerous affection whatever of the skin. But there is a disease prevailing in the colony, from which immigrants so frequently suffer, to which the term Natal sores has been generally attached. This disease seems to me a form of ecthyma, of a chronic nature and for the most part occurring in people just landed, or others who, though not recently arrived, have undergone privations, whether incident to position or to travelling. A local expression of general debility, is a formula of words suited, in my opinion, to convey the physical condition of the sufferer, a general debility induced by privations on shipboard, or after landing, or in travelling, or by intemperance, or it may be through local debility from overaction of the skin in an almost tropical country ; but, as far as I can find, it is in no way connected with the hsematuria endemic to South Africa. It is notorious that immigrants recently arrived are more frequent sufferers than old residents; so much so is this the case that it is here looked upon as in some mea- sure an acclimatizing process, erroneously so I think. These being the facts relating to this affection, it can hardly be concluded that the occurrence of Natal sores and of hsomaturia from the presence of B. hamatohium have any connection ; indeed, I have been unable in any one instance to connect the two diseases, although my inquiries have been specially directed to this point since I first read Dr.