01211nas a2200313   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653002800055653001100083653001100094653001800105653002600123653001100149653001200160653001200172653000900184653003400193653001400227653001700241653001300258653002200271653000900293100001800302245006100320300001000381490000700391520048500398022001400883       2004                            d  c2004 Dec10aElephantiasis, Filarial10aFemale10aHernia10aHerniorrhaphy10aHistory, 20th Century10aHumans10aleprosy10aMalaria10aMale10aObstetric Labor Complications10aPregnancy10aSierra Leone10aSmallpox10aTropical Medicine10aYaws1 aMacgregor J D00aDisease in Africa: a medical perspective from the 1950s.  a67-730 v103 a<p>So much attention is focused on the current HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa that there is a tendency to overlook the grievous burden of disease from which the peoples of that Continent have suffered for centuries. This paper, based on letters sent in 1953/54 by a young doctor in Sierra Leone to his parents in Scotland, together with extracts from Makeni Hospital records of the same period, provides a factual account of front-line medicine in West Africa half a century ago.</p>  a1373-4857