In 1961, the Nagoya National Hospital asked me to test starch-like substance excreted from granulating wounds of a female patient. This patient had been staying in the hospital since 1959 to heal an unknown disease. At first, granulating wounds appeared on her breasts and these wounds excreted white yellowish pus. Her breasts were cut off on suspicion of cancer. Then the wounds appared on her legs. One day, in 1961, a doctor of the hospital dropped iodine tincture on the pus and the pus stained deep blue. On April, 1961, I visited the Nagoya National Hospital, met the patient and obtained newly excreted pus from Dr. TAMURA. I isolated white granules from the pus. All physical and chemical tests indicated that the granules were raww starch granules with lamellar rings and cross polarization. These granules looked like wheat starch granules. During these experiments, I knew another peculiar female patient who had been excreting “cotton” from her wounds since 1957. In 1964, I visited Dr. TAZIRI's private hospital, Okayama prefecture, where she lived as a charity patient during 7 years. Dr. TAZIRI, a surgeon, showed me about 4 kg of cotton, which had been excreted from her wounds on arms and legs. Dr. TAZIRI offered me newly collected pus from her body. The main substance of the pus was small bundles of cotton as reported before by several observers. I reported the physical and chemical nature of these two kinds of excretion at the International Symposium on Carbohydrate Chemistry which was held in Munster on July, 1964. Thereafter I continued my effort to ascertain the cause of these two peculiar diseases, but as I am not a medical doctor, I asked many physicians, biochemists and bacteriologists to have interest on these diseases. At last, on April 12, 1966, we could invite the “cotton” patient to the hospital of Osaka University under permission of Dr. TAZIRI. The chief of this observation was Prof. SHIBA, a surgeon, of Osaka University. All clothes, curtains, sheets and bed mat of her room of the hospital had been changed to those made with synthetic fiber. Medical treatments and observations of all fields were performed by many professors of Osaka University. The patient continued to excrete cotton but the amount of cotton decreased day by day. Wounds were deep and a wound seemed to be connected with other wounds. On eleventh day, April 22., an X-ray observation of her whole body was done, and to our surprise, 8 sewing needles were found in her body. Dr. KANEKO, professor of psychiatry, diagnosed her as hysteria and he suggested that needles and cotton might be inserted into the wounds by herself, though the patient denied these insertions. Thus, our observation was interrupted and the patient was sent back to Dr. TAZIRI's hospital on April 25, without an exact conclusion. On this news, the Nagoya National Hospital decided to send back the "starch" patient to her parent suspecting the same case, because she liked crackers and biscuits and these cakes contained a considerable amount of raw state starch granules. After 8 years, I had a chance to trace the “cotton” disease. On May 9., 1974, I visited again Dr. TAZIRI. On this day, Dr. TAZIRI invited the former patient to his hospital for me. She became quite healthy and looked rather young though she became 50 years old. Dr. TAZIRI told me that, after our observation in Osaka University, she continued to excrete cotton, and Dr. TAZIRI asked to the hospital of Okayama University, his mother college, to accept the patient. She went to the hospital of Okayama University on July 29., 1966. She excreted a large amount of cotton every day during first 30 days. But, when the wounds were covered with gypsum bandage, the excretion of cotton decreased and the wounds healed gradually. After about 100 days, cotton was excreted only once per 10 or 20 days. She could return to her home on February 19., 1967.
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