Scurvy: historical review and current diagnostic approach.
Scurvy, a deficiency of vitamin C, now most often occurs in disadvantaged groups seen frequently in EDs: alcoholics with poor nutrition, the isolated elderly, and the institutionalized. Its prominent clinical features are lethargy; purpuric lesions, especially affecting the legs; myalgia; and, in advancing disease, bleeding from the gums with little provocation. Common misdiagnoses are vasculitis, blood dyscrasias, and ulcerative gingivitis. Untreated, scurvy is inevitably fatal as a result of infection or sudden death. Fortunately, individuals with scurvy, even those with advanced disease, respond favorably to administration of vitamin C.
Pimentel
Laura
L
Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 419 West Redwood Street, Suite 280, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. lpimentel@mercymed.com
D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D012614:Scurvy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000266:history*