[BITList] Malaria and Kala-azar [Blackwater Fever]

[HUGH]

John,

As was the case with many others, my father came home from the Burma campaign, etc, with a lot of Hindi, and also malaria that came and went and came again until it disappreared.  Fortunately, our doctor - Jack Weir, MM - had been in Burma at the same time, possibly with him.

A colleague in Scotts DO was off for a few days with flu, then it turned into weeks, then he was very ill.  At some point they started to ask him questions away from the usual, and he recalled (too late, as it sadly turned out) he'd had malaria at one time.  Between the flu and what the malaria had done, his system had lost the ability to make a certain enzyme, and he had to be stabilised and take it orally for the rest of his life.  Unfortunately, each time he got a cold the ball was back on the slates - he had to suspend the process and be stabilised all over again.  Eventually his kidneys failed, and he got a transplant, but he didn't last long after that.

Another colleague was being treated for an upset tummy and the runs, and not responding.  Again, the range of questions changed - "Have you ever been to such and such a place?  Have you ever had such and such?"  To which Hamish answered, "I had dysentery some years ago."  "You've still got it," they said.

It pays to remember.

Hugh.

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