A little history, the diagnostic process of the disease "BERI-BERI"
David Levy js1000@walla.co.il *
Christian Eikman, born in the Netherlands, completed his medical studies at the University of Amsterdam, the state financed his studies in exchange for a commitment on his part, to serve as a military doctor afterwards.
After studying medicine, Eikman became very interested in bacteriology, and went to Berlin, where he specialized in this field together with the renowned doctor Robert Koch (identified the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, winner of the Nobel Prize).
While in Berlin, Eikman met two members of a committee sent by the Danish government to Indonesia, with the aim of finding out what was the cause of "bribery", which was then defined as a plague in tropical and subtropical countries. Before the team arrived to investigate the plague, they met Koch in his laboratory, because they thought the disease was caused by a certain type of bacteria. "Bribery" was characterized by acute multineuritis, resulting in paralysis of the lower limbs (the so-called "dry beriberi"), and in addition, respiratory and cardiac failure accompanied by acute edema ("wet beribery").
Dr. Eikman volunteered to join the team, and help identify the bacterium responsible for the disease. Although the prevailing opinion among the team was that the bacterium caused the disease, Eikman was unable to document any transition of the disease in any case.
If so, the study of the cause of the disease reached a dead end, however, new clues came to Eikman's attention. A disease similar in symptoms broke out among the poultry in the laboratory located in a military hospital in Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia). The birds suffered from muscle weakness, could not use their wings or lift their heads, and soon died of respiratory failure. A laboratory test demonstrated a degenerative process of the peripheral nervous system. Again, Eikman tried to infect healthy birds with this disease, and failed. While Eikman was at a loss for words in the face of the findings, the birds suddenly began to recover, and no further cases of the disease in poultry were recorded. At this point Eikman decided to focus on the birds' diet, and discovered that the birds were fed processed rice (with the husk removed) from June 17th to November 27th. After that, a new cook entered the kitchen, and the birds were once again fed uncooked rice.
The fowl disease, (which is called Bririberi of the chicken), started on July 10, and receded at the end of November. Eikman was able to recreate the symptoms of riberi by feeding the birds processed rice again, and to improve the condition of the birds by giving them unprocessed rice. Eikman isolated the active ingredient from the inner husk of the rice grain, and thus it was possible to treat poultry by administering the active ingredient intravenously or orally.
The "definitive" proof came when Eikman discovered that a number of prisoners in an Indonesian prison were fed processed rice, and the rest of the prisoners were fed unprocessed rice. In prisoners who were fed processed rice, a very high percentage of beriberi disease was demonstrated. The same active substance that Eikman managed to isolate was discovered to be amine, and in view of the far-reaching effects of the compound, it was called "vital amine" - "vital amine", which was later shortened to "vitamin".
Eikman's discovery, that water-soluble vitamin called thiamine (vitamin B-1), saved thousands of lives and opened a completely new era, an era in which the great importance of vitamins in the diet, and the devastating effect of a lack of certain vitamins, was recognized.
Another well-known physician and biochemist, Frederick Hopkins, extensively researched the structure and role of vitamins in the body, and the effects of vitamins on physiology and growth.
Attached is a picture, in which you see two birds, the one on the left was fed food rich in vitamins C and B, and the one on the right was fed
In food that lacks the above-mentioned vitamins.
Since vitamin B1 deficiency stars in our country, unfortunately, I may briefly detail the symptoms of the disease,
Deficiency of vitamin B-1 (thiamine), promotes anorexia, apathy and general weakness. If the deficiency persists over a long period of time, the symptoms can develop into "bribery", which is classified as "dry" or "wet" (although the two conditions usually overlap). In both types of the disease, patients complain of pain and paresthesia (tingling and uncontrollable tickling sensations) explained in the skin). (The heart).(I will note that vitamin B-1 is used as a sub-enzyme in cellular respiration, so it is possible to understand the consequences of its deficiency on energy production processes, and dysautonomy (impaired functioning of the autonomic nervous system), all of which usually occur when the vitamin deficiency increases). for three months.
Enlarged heart, tachycardia, congestive heart failure and accumulation of fluid in the lungs, edema and peripheral inflammation, all of these are demonstrated in the above patients.
In patients presenting with "dry beriberi", a symmetric-peripheral neuropathy is demonstrated, involving the motor and sensory systems, accompanied by reduced reflexes. The nerve pathology mainly affects the lower limbs with a wide-ranging impact on basic motor actions.
The diagnostic process of "Briberi" is translated from "Harrisons Principles of Internal Medicine 15th Ed"
They knew innovations in medicine
The Story of Beriberi
Science forum in Vala
* The article was first published yesterday in Walla's science forum and it also appears on the Hidan website courtesy of the author.
