Though it can readily be imagined that moist pleurisy is not only caused by tuberculous infection, but also accelerated by a certain proximate cause, only few reports on the study concerning this proximate cause in medical publications have been made.
I supposed that a deficiency in vitamin B1 in human-kind might be a proximate cause of moist pleurisy, because the occurrent condition of pleurisy, such as age, season, and locality, resembled that of beriberi, and then I ascertaiend with experimental study that deficiency in vitamin B1 was the main cause of the occurrence of pleurisy.
Therefore, I pursued the presence of complication of pleurisy and beriberi or latent beriberi, observing statistically these two diseases and confirmed that these two diseases were closely related.
In order to compare the general occurrent condition of these two diseases, I consulted the statistics of out-patients in the Tsukiji Hospital of Tokyo Municipality, and statistics of many reports in Japan and foreign countries, and observed the clinical symptoms, by patients' protocol, of the 414 patients entered in the Tsukiji Hospital during the past 10 years.
Conclusions:
1. Moist pleurisy and beriberi are found frequently in Japan, but not so common in Europe and America, and the type of the disease is different in Japan and Europe.
2. Moist pleurisy and beriberi occur most in from late spring to summer, but not so frequent in winter.
3. Moist pleurisy and beriberi patients are found mostly from 15 to 30 years of age. These diseases occur oftener in men than in women.
4. Most of the moist pleurisy occurs among healthy persons, few of these patients have anamnesis.
Non-tuberculous, especially beriberi patients, were recorded mostly from among the patients who had anamnesis.
5. Moist pleurisy patiemts who had complications of beriberi or latent beriberi amounted to 45.65%.
6. The fact that most of the moist pleurisy patients have anamnesis of beriberi or accompanying beriberi is not at all an accidental complication, and it is presumed that deficiency in vitamin B1 must have existed before developed pleurisy.
7. I found that relatively many moist pleurisy patients, complicated with beriberi or latent beriberi, had much pleura liquid.
8. Most of the moist pleurisy patients, complicated by beribri or latent beriberi, had unfavourable progress, viz:, showed a worse condition of fever and pulse than the patients who had no complication of beriberi.
9. Moist pleurisy patients who are suffering from beriberi or latent beriberi at the same time are apt to have other complications and most of these patients make unfavourable progress, especially suffer from bacteriaemia like miliary tuberculosis or tuberculous meningitis.
From the above statistical facts, I consider that pleurisy, beriberi and deficiency in vitamin B1 have a close relation, and a deficient condition in vitamin B1 in human-kind plays an important role for the occurrence of moist pleurisy.
Moreover, symptoms of moist pleurisy are apt to become worse by a deficiency in vitamin B1.
Therefore, it is necessary to give vitamin B1 for the prophylaxis of moist pleurisy, or to the moist pleurisy patients who are deficient in vitamin B1 for the therapeutical purposes.
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