Torrid Disease: Memoirs of a Tropical Physician in the Late Twentieth Century

Synopsis

This very readable and well illustrated book outlines the medical career of a physician who undertook a series of assignments in tropical countries between 1960 and 1990: Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Saudi Arabia and Papua New Guinea. Having thus obtained considerable experience of, and made significant contributions to, 'medicine in the tropics', he was later appointed to London's Hospital for Tropical Diseases, and there saw and contributed to, the formal discipline of tropical medicine (which originated in the late nineteenth century) in the latter years of the twentieth century. This unique account, outlined in this fascinating narrative, covers more than seven decades, four of which were devoted to tropical diseases, seen in warm climates and also Britain. Now that the majority of developing countries possess their own medical school and graduates, it is most unlikely that this kind of itinerant and exciting career will be repeated.