TULIP FINGERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22723, 8 November 1935, Page 9

TULIP FINGERS

“ Tulip fingers,” which is causing great suffering among workers in the British bulb fields, is discussed in the British Medical Journal ” by Mr* A. P. Bertwistle) the Harley street surgeon. “It is so bad,” he writes, “ that an eminent dermatologist is reported to have said that the sufferer’s only hope of a permanent cure is to discontinue work among flowers and bulbs.” The disease occurs in Holland, but so far no icertain cure is known. Up to 85 per cent, of the workers are liable to it, the remainder being immune. Symptoms are characterised by intolerable tingling of the finger tips beneath the nail, which later separates from its bed. The cause of the , di"- .■ is still uncertain. Mr Bertwistle, however, mentions a preparation which is being used on the assumption that the . disease has a bacterial origin. “ It is not a specific,” he adds, “ as some cases fail to respond, but so far as can t determined it is the only preparation with any effect on the condition.”