RARE DISEASE.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 10871, 15 April 1929, Page 3

RARE DISEASE.

DEATH OF A LONDON WOMAN

A disease,, of' winch litTlc is known by tlu! medical profession, and which caused the death <>t an elderly woman, was mentioned at an inquest in London recently. The woman -Minnie Durrant. aged oil, collapsed after an operation. Dr. William Patterson, of the Alarvlehono Hospital, and All's Hurra nt' was suffering front pemphigus vegetans. The Coroner (Dr. C. P. Scott): Is it a very rare diseasef —I es, extremely rare.

The woman developed moist gangrene, said Dr. Patterson.and it was decided to operate on the right arm. The operation was completed, and as she was about lo ho taken hack to the ward she collapsed and died.

The coroner: There is very little known of the disease ?—Very little at all. A number of medical men nnd ; students dime to see her Hi hospital as a unique ease. Is the cause of it known ?— No. Dr. R. Al. Pronto, pathologist, said that lie had never seen a. ease of that isort in the whole of his experience, Literature on the disease was very sparse. The immediate cause of death was heart failure from operative shock. Tile coroner; Did you find any evidence as to the cause of this rare condition?—None at all. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure. An eminent medical authority states ihat the disease begins in certain parts of the body, and. despite *!tl| efforts- to eradicate it- by operation, continues and saps the strength of the individual. “It is not a tropical disease,” he says, “and there are only a few ktwnvn eases of it in the whole of zpedical science.”