Tropical ulcers.

Abstract

EASILY demonstrable dermatologic conditions due to a variety of causes are present in about 15 per cent of the routine outpatient clinic and dispensary admissions in seacoast cities of Liberia. This percentage increases in the hinterland until it reaches 43 per cent of the patients in certain rural areas of the Gola Forest. In spite of this relatively high incidence of severe dermatoses, less than 9 per cent of the patients indicate that the skin lesions or associated symptoms are their chief complaints. Even after the examiner has spent considerable time and effort in examinations of the lesions, many of the patients still insist that the lesions are relatively nonimportant parts of their illnesses. The reactions to tropical dermatoses by Africans differ from those of persons from the temperate zone with similar dermatoses. In the native the condition is often considered relatively insignificant, while the person from the temperate zone