The risk of getting sick with scurvy (scurvy) did not disappear anywhere. True, in our time scurvy is extremely rare. Since the disease has moved into the category of rare pathologies, many of us are wondering why people get scurvy and what is scurvy disease?
What is scurvy. Causes of Scorbut
A person who does not receive ascorbic acid for four weeks with food develops severe beriberi, turning into scurvy. The disease flows against the background of the complete absence of vitamin C in the body or with its extreme deficiency (critically low concentrations). The total lack of this substance disrupts the synthesis of a special protein - collagen.
Collagen also determines how strong the walls of blood vessels and elastic connective tissues will be. A persistent deficiency of vitamin C leads to negative changes in the structure of cartilage, destruction of tubular bones, impaired bone marrow function, and atrophy of the bone tooth bed.
Other types of beriberi also lead to scurbut. For example, the disease develops togetherwith rickets, which is accompanied by a lack of vitamins from group B and folic acid. Here are the reasons why people get scurvy.
Symptoms of scurvy
Signs of scurvy begin to appear with a sustained severe vitamin C deficiency lasting 1-3 months. A person is tormented by weakness, fatigue, dizziness. He has irritability, drowsiness, pain in the joints. Calf muscles suffer from pain.
However, these signs are not immediately attributed to the specific symptoms of scurbut. They are only the basis for suspecting the development of pathology. The diagnosis is made if the patient has a history of prolonged malnutrition or starvation, and problems with absorption of nutrients in the intestines (another reason why people get scurvy).
Scurvy patients have a peculiar appearance. The surface of their skin is bumpy (tubercles form hemorrhages in the hair follicles). Skin color is yellow-brown. Joint pains force them to a specific gait. People burdened with scurvy walk with their knees bent.
Development of scurvy
Regardless of why people get scurvy, progressive scurvy is characterized by characteristic changes in gum tissue. A special pallor that has arisen on the mucous membranes is replaced by cyanosis. Interdental papillae undergo changes. Gums are bleeding.
The tissue in the lesions thickens, acquires maroon hues. On it are visiblesigns of internal hemorrhage. The teeth are surrounded by blue-purple spongy formations that form bleeding rollers. The person experiences pain when chewing. Profuse salivation gives him considerable discomfort.
Complicated scurvy
Heavily flowing scurbut is accompanied by a secondary infection, which is expressed by an unpleasant odor in the mouth, ulcers, loosening and loss of teeth. The disease is accompanied by extensive hemorrhages that occur in the subcutaneous tissue, conjunctiva, muscle mass, periosteum, and in the tissues surrounding the joints. In the area of hemorrhages, hematomas are formed. They, hardening, cause pain and complicate the movement of a person.
Hemorrhages are found not only in external tissues, but also in internal organs. They are characteristic of the pleura, kidneys, lungs, intestines, stomach. Patients suffer from hemoptysis, bloody vomiting and hematuria. Their heart function, secretory and motor functions of the gastrointestinal tract are depressed, anemia appears, the spleen and liver increase.
Treatment of scurvy
When "scurvy" is diagnosed, the conditions of occurrence, complications, treatment of the disease are determined, proceed to careful care of the patient. The basis of treatment for scurvy is diet therapy. The patient's diet is based on food enriched with vitamin C: fresh vegetables, fruits, juices, berries. In advanced conditions, ascorbic acid is injected or dripped.
In case of inflammation in the mouth, its cavity is treated with solutions of potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide, vitaminA in oil. With difficult articular mobility, physiotherapeutic procedures are prescribed: mud, massages, hydrotherapy sessions, exercise therapy. If in search of an answer to the question why people get scurvy, anemia joins the main causes of the disease, they prescribe vitamin B12 in combination with iron preparations.
Prevention of scurvy
Why don't people get scurvy anymore? It's all about the correct and very simple prevention of the disease. Wholesome nutrition is a panacea for scurvy. Particular attention is paid to the quality of nutrition in the winter-spring period, when foods lose some of their vitamin C, and the immune system is weakened.
Vegetables, fruits and berries in fresh, canned, dried and frozen form help to avoid scurvy. If an insufficient amount of ascorbic acid is supplied with nutrition, it is recommended to take complex vitamin preparations containing it.
