Scurvy Research Paper

Scurvy is a nutritional disorder found in animals such as humans and guinea pigs. Specifically, it is a vitamin-C deficiency in animals that cannot synthesize vitamin-C. The lack of this vitamin disturbs the body’s ability to produce collagen which affects bone and tissue formation as well as inhibiting blood clotting. Presently, this deficiency is highly uncommon in humans, but it can be found in rare cases in alcoholics, the elderly, and children with poor diets due to economic reasons. In the 16th and 18th century, sailors’ teeth would fall out as they would neglect to bring along enough citrus foods to meet their daily requirements. Today, this deficiency is most common in one of America’s familiar household pets; guinea pigs. What are the symptoms of scurvy? Once this fatal deficiency takes root, is there a cure? Can it be prevented? Knowing the symptoms of scurvy can aide in the process of preventing and curing this deficiency as the owner can recognize the shortfall and respond accordingly. These symptoms include seeing spots on the animal or subcutaneous bleeding as well as internal bleeding in places such as in the muscles, brain, intestines, and throughout the membranes encompassing the skull. This is because scurvy affects blood clotting. The animal may also struggle to walk due to

In humans, treatment requires the reverse of what caused the nutritional disorder: ingestion of vitamin-C. This can be accomplished through injection, drinking ample amount of orange juice, or eating vitamin supplements. In guinea pigs, inject the animal with Vitamin-C every day for one to two weeks. Either inject 50 mg of vitamin-C once a day or 25 mg twice a day to successfully heal the rodent. Experts do not recommend attempting to cure scurvy in guinea pigs by feeding them a multivitamin, because the small pet may develop an allergic reaction to other vitamins in the