Iron and Liver Disease in South Africa

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Abstract
Hemochromatosis and hemosiderosis appear to be unusually common at the Boston City Hospital.1,2 Histologically demonstrable iron is found in 64% of Caucasians studied at autopsy and with liver biopsy and is found in large quantities in patients with portal (alcoholic, nutritional, Laennec's) cirrhosis. The cause or causes of the findings are unknown; the questions posed by the findings are of special interest in considerations of whether genetic factors are important in causing hemochromatosis and hemosiderosis, or whether environmental or disease changes are responsible. The present studies were carried out in the Republic of South Africa to compare the occurrence of tissue iron in Caucasians genetically unrelated and geographically widely separated from patients at the Boston City Hospital. In addition, a pathologic comparison was made between iron diseases in the Bantu natives of South Africa, who ingest large amounts of iron in the diet, and hemochromatosis in Caucasians in Boston.

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