Outbreak of scurvy among prisoners in South Ethiopia

Background: Scurvy is caused by a deficiency of ascorbic acid. Hence, ascorbic acid has to be regularly supplemented through diet or with tablets. Objective: To describe the clinical feature of scurvy among prisoners admitted to Yirgalem Hospital. Methods: An observational study done on a total of 38 male prisoner patients over one month. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analysis was done using SPSS 16.0. Results: All 38 patients had limb swelling and 35 of them had distal limb numbness, tingling and burning sensation. After five days of vitamin C administration patients’ leg swelling, hematuria, cough and gum bleeding subsided completely, and the value of hemoglobin was also raised from (10.3±3.31) to (12.7±2.26) with treatment. Nutritional history revealed that there were no vegetables, fruits or animal products in their diet. Their imprisonments ranged from eight to forty nine months with an average of 19.3 months. Conclusions: Symptomatic scurvy is common in male prisoners imprisoned more than eight months. Unilateral limb swelling, bilateral distal neuropathic pain and bleeding diathesis are common presentation of scurvy. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2012;26(1):60-62]