摘要：

An endemic peripheral vascular disease involving a relatively large number of inhabitants has been noted on the southwest coast of Taiwan. The initial symptom of this disease is usally the insidious onset of numbness or coldness of one or more of the extremities. The disease usually progresses, resulting in an area of ulceration with subsequent gangrenous changes, giving the characteristic black discoloration of dry gangrene. Thus, it has been called BLACKFOOT DISEASE by the local inhabitants. Almost all patients are permanently maimed as a result of spontaneous or artificial amputation of a portion of the affected extremity.BLACKFOOT DISEASE was first noted about 40 years ago, but did not attract the attention of the health authorities because only one or two cases occurred each year. The disease has been found only in certain districts on the west coast of Tainan and Chia-I counties. Altogether 327 cases were diagnosed partly thorugh a general survey in the endemic area during 1958-60. The patients were among both sexes, predominant in the males, and the youngest patient was 7 years of age. A separate study on the epidemiology of the disease appears elsewhere in the same publication, pointing to the possibility that drinking water from a certain type of wells might be an important etiological factor. The present paper summarizes the results of clinical studies based on 327 cases of the disease.

展开