‘Polar anaemia’: cardiac failure during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.
ABSTRACT On the Belgica expedition (1897–1899), Dr F.A. Cook described a disease that he called ‘polar anaemia’ and on this expedition it affected most of the expedition members and caused one death. The symptoms were shortness of breath, abnormalities of the pulse and oedema (swelling of the legs)...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2011
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247411000222 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247411000222 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247411000222 2024-06-23T07:46:43+00:00 ‘Polar anaemia’: cardiac failure during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. Guly, H.R. 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247411000222 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247411000222 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 48, issue 2, page 157-164 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 journal-article 2011 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247411000222 2024-06-12T04:04:47Z ABSTRACT On the Belgica expedition (1897–1899), Dr F.A. Cook described a disease that he called ‘polar anaemia’ and on this expedition it affected most of the expedition members and caused one death. The symptoms were shortness of breath, abnormalities of the pulse and oedema (swelling of the legs) and the disease was clearly cardiac failure. During the heroic age of Antarctic exploration a similar disease affected at least eight other expeditions causing five other deaths. This disease was very similar (and probably identical) to a disease affecting (mostly) Scandinavian seamen and called ‘ship beri-beri’. Both diseases were almost certainly what is now called wet beri-beri due to thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency though most sufferers were probably also vitamin C deficient and some may have had both beri-beri and scurvy. It may have been exacerbated by invalid diets. This paper describes the disease and how it was considered and treated at the time. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Polar Record Cambridge University Press Antarctic Polar Record 48 2 157 164 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT On the Belgica expedition (1897–1899), Dr F.A. Cook described a disease that he called ‘polar anaemia’ and on this expedition it affected most of the expedition members and caused one death. The symptoms were shortness of breath, abnormalities of the pulse and oedema (swelling of the legs) and the disease was clearly cardiac failure. During the heroic age of Antarctic exploration a similar disease affected at least eight other expeditions causing five other deaths. This disease was very similar (and probably identical) to a disease affecting (mostly) Scandinavian seamen and called ‘ship beri-beri’. Both diseases were almost certainly what is now called wet beri-beri due to thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency though most sufferers were probably also vitamin C deficient and some may have had both beri-beri and scurvy. It may have been exacerbated by invalid diets. This paper describes the disease and how it was considered and treated at the time. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Guly, H.R. |
spellingShingle |
Guly, H.R. ‘Polar anaemia’: cardiac failure during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. |
author_facet |
Guly, H.R. |
author_sort |
Guly, H.R. |
title |
‘Polar anaemia’: cardiac failure during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. |
title_short |
‘Polar anaemia’: cardiac failure during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. |
title_full |
‘Polar anaemia’: cardiac failure during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. |
title_fullStr |
‘Polar anaemia’: cardiac failure during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. |
title_full_unstemmed |
‘Polar anaemia’: cardiac failure during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. |
title_sort |
‘polar anaemia’: cardiac failure during the heroic age of antarctic exploration. |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247411000222 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247411000222 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Polar Record |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Polar Record |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 48, issue 2, page 157-164 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247411000222 |
container_title |
Polar Record |
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48 |
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2 |
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157 |
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164 |
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1802647737955516416 |