The following case is reported because it suggests that symptoms and pathologic changes identical with those found in pellagra and vitamin B complex deficiency may be directly or indirectly caused by arsenic.
REPORT OF CASE
A man aged 56 was admitted to the service of Dr. Temple Fay in the Temple University Hospital on April 18, 1938, with the complaint of progressive weakness, numbness and tingling of all extremities, marked ataxia of his hands and feet and a "bandlike" feeling about the abdomen. He dated the onset of the illness to seven months before admission, when he had "bronchitis" and a "cold in his nose," associated with tingling and numbness of his extremities.Twenty-three years previous to the present admission (1915) gastroenterostomy had been done for a duodenal ulcer. The patient smoked as many as ten cigars a day and for many years had been a heavy drinker of whisky