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KAIRA.
The cases generally treated at the Kaira Civil Hospital are those of tinea
and leprosy. Two cases of fibroma casually seen by the Civil Surgeon, in whose
opinion, however, the disease is very uncommon in the district. Leucoderma is
common, but its subjects do not present themselves for treatment.
PANCH MAHALS.
No skin diseases worthy of note present in Dohad. Leprosy reports said to
have been sent in, but not found among the papers received from the Government.
Lepers, says Dr. Jones, attend the hospital a few times, and then discontinue their
attendance, so that no satisfactory information can be procured.
AHMEDABAD.
The Civil Surgeon, Ahmedabad, offers the following remarks on the sub-
ject:
Mycetoma seldom presents itself in its incipient stage. It is restricted to
the soft parts of the plantar surface of the foot, and is generally
found to be prevalent among the agricultural population, chiefly
herdsmen, who come almost entirely from the neighbouring Province
of Kattywar. As regards the parasitic or non-parasitic nature of the
disease, it is generally believed that the disease never occurs without an
external wound having pre-existed, generally the result of a prick from
a thorn through which the parasite, whatever be its nature, enters the
skin. Of the 2 varieties of this disease, the black and the white or
rose coloured, the former is more common. Amputation is the only
remedy in chronic cases, and probably excision in the recent and
circumscribed stages.
As regards leprosy it is seldom met with in its early stages. Careful treat-
ment by gurjun oil has quite failed to relieve far less to cure it. Nutritious food
has done more in this direction than any of the remedies employed as far as can
be ascertained, the cases of hereditary leprosy far exceed those which are idiopathic
or acquired, and a large number of cases are due to syphilis.
The disease known as the Delhi Sore is met with both among the rich and
the poor, and among Europeans as well as Natives, and has of late been on the
decrease, probably owing to better sanitary arrangements, purer water and the
advance of cultivation.
Cases of elephantiasis are very rarely met with, as only eight cases were treated
during the last five years.
Filaria medinensis is not very frequently met with at Ahmedabad probably
from the fact that river water is chiefly used for bathing. Out of a total number
of 13,195 cutaneous diseases, only 165 of this disease were treated during the last
five years.
Cases of leucoderma are not infrequent in the City of Ahmedabad, but it
seldom happens that persons suffering from it apply for treatment. This disease,
it is believed, occurs more generally among Natives of comparatively fair skin.
Psoriasis is not a disease of common occurrence in the district.
Scabies is very prevalent, especially in the young. It is more rarely met with
in adults.
Of the two diseases-tinea tonsurans and tinea favosa-the former is more
prevalent than the latter.
Carbuncle does not occur in large numbers. It is generally found to be a
very intractable disease, and in several cases has proved fatal from the extreme
depression it induced, and from the want of proper instruments.
The remarks of the Assistant Surgeon in charge Bechardas Dispensary are
very much to the same effect.
SIND.
(Kurrachee, Hyderabad, Thar and Parkar, Shikarpur and Upper Sind Frontier.)
Generally speaking, leprosy cases are very rarely met with in Sind. In most
of the few cases hitherto observed in the various hospitals and dispensaries in that
Province, the sufferers were foreigners, often mendicants from the Punjab, Cabul,
Khorassan, Samarkand and Bokhara. These were probably all males, although no