An Outbreak of Exfoliative Glossitis in an Assam Jail

In the late autumn of 1931 a steadily increasing number of prisoners in the Gauhati Jail began to complain of pain in the tongue, mouth and gullet. The jail is one occupied in the main by men serving long sentences and has accommodation for 400 prisoners. Owing, however, to the present economic distress, there has been considerable overcrowding, amounting throughout the last year to a hundred or even more in excess. On admission prisoners are often half-starved and a large proportion fall far short of their physical equivalent weight. The jail enclosure occupies an area of three