Selenium Deficiency and Endemic Heart Failure in China: A Case Study of Biogeochemistry for Human Health

摘要

In 1937, a terrible disease of heart failure was reported in some rural areas in Heilongjiang, a far northeastern province of China. Women and children were its primary victims. The disease frequently occurred without warning and led to the death of a large number of people. The major symptom of the disease was myocardial necrosis, which led to acute hypoxia, vomiting, and finally death in several hours. Preliminary investigations were conducted in the late 1930s and 1940s but biotic infecting agents could not be identified. The peculiar disease was then named after the county, Keshan, where the first cases of death from the disease were reported. Since then, Keshan disease was found in another 12 provinces across China between the 1940s-60s. About eight million people lived in the affected areas in the country during that period of time, and thousands of people died of Keshan disease every year. The disease was so severe that a special government office was established to coordinate the nationwide efforts against the disease in the 1950s.