The Sprue Syndrome: Onset and Cyclic Development*

The importance of sprue in India during 1943-5 is reflected in the fact that of 8,846 medical cases evacuated during that period 1,073 had sprue. The unusual opportunity of observing large numbers of cases early in the disease has provided the clinical material for this paper, which describes the development of the syndrome in two series of patients. The first 600 cases described previouslyt were studied under limiting circumstances. Few laboratory facilities were available. They will be referred to as A600. The second series of 80 cases have had fuller clinical and laboratory investigation. They will be referred to as B80.