Normal absorption in Thai subjects with non-specific jejunal abnormalities.

There is a growing belief that subclinical tropical sprue is widespread in tropical countries (Klipstein, 1967). This opinion is based on studies of asymptomatic adults in India (Baker et al., 1962), Pakistan (Russell et al., 1966 ; Lindenbaum et al., 1966b), and Thailand (Sprinz et al., 1962), in whom jejunal histological abnormalities and impaired xylose absorption were frequently found. Recent studies in Haiti by Klipstein et al. (1966) show that this condition is very common in individuals complaining of one or more symptoms of the disease. The ease with which the same histological and biochemical abnormalities could be demonstrated in asymptomatic subjects led these workers to speculate that tropical sprue is a disease with a wide range of expression and that the overt cases represent only a fraction of the total number affected. Because a jejunal lesion has been found commonly in asymptomatic subjects in Thailand (Sprinz et al., 1962), we undertook to study its functional expression with a wider variety of tests than previously employed in order to assess the lesion