RED MADNESS

ADULT/YA NONFICTION

G/A  Jarrow, Gail.  Red Madness.  Calkins Creek, 2014.  978-1-59078-732-8.  16.95.
Red skin rashes, sore mouths, diarrhea and mental deterioration were annual springtime symptoms of "pellagra" during the early 1900's.  This rampant disease was most obvious in the American South and usually lead to death.  Approximately 50 years of experiments plus trial and error hypotheses revealed that pellagra occurred in vitamin deficient diets -- particularly niacin.  As a handsome, non-technical health history, the book includes patient episodes, a timeline, both the author's notes and chapter notes, a bibliography, detailed index and credits for the multiple black and white pictures.    E.M. Roublow