THE OLD SAILOR’S MALADY, SCURVY, IS AN ACTIVE DISEASE AGAIN WITH REGULAR FOLKS
I remember learning about scurvy years (and years) ago in grade school as a scary hook when learning about the high seas era, when people, privateers, pirates and nations explored the world for colonization and gold. As I recall from the lesson, sailing on the world’s oceans was fraught with a variety of perils like storms, a dead calm, pirates, sea monsters (maybe?) and diseases like scurvy. But somehow scurvy was pretty memorable as we were all shocked to learn that all you had to do to prevent or treat it was to eat things rich in vitamin C. But somehow, the disease is still active today with the afflicted.
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PREVENTING AND CURING THE POSSIBLY FATAL SCURVY IS AS SIMPLE AS VITAMIN C
Scurvy can be deadly, and was a problem that many suffered or even died from until the early 1900’s. Mostly, those who’d catch it were sailors who were stuck on their ships on long voyages, without the right foods. If you caught it, you could have any or all of fatigue, bruising, bleeding gums, and even superficial wounds could become serious as they wouldn’t heal. And, of course, if you were stuck on a ship (or in blissful ignorance anywhere) and didn’t get food to eat with vitamin C, you’d likely die. Painfully.
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PEOPLE AND DOCTORS BOTH SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN SCURVY CAN STILL HAPPEN, AND WHY
But apparently scurvy is still around, as not everyone had the lesson plan I did as a kid in history class. And doctors are not immune to ignorance as somehow they can forget their medical history and fail to identify it. One person suffered from scurvy for decades before someone finally checked his vitamin C levels, which were zero. The poor person recovered after a month of vitamin C supplements set them right. That extreme example might help explain how Western Australia had to look at a broad swathe of the populace’s vitamin C levels after they had two documented cases of scurvy.
It’s a good thing they did, as over half of everyone tested had a modest deficiency, with a good portion of those with a risky deficiency.
