Scurvy Scurvy Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms include weakness, feeling tired, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding from the skin may occur. As scurvy worsens there can be poor wound healing, personality changes, and finally death from infection or bleeding. Typically, scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C in the diet. It takes at least a month of little to no vitamin C before symptoms occur. In modern times, it occurs most commonly in people with mental
Vitamin K deficiency However, factor VII has the shortest half-life of all the factors carboxylated by vitamin K; therefore, when deficient, it is the PT that rises first, since the activated Factor VII is the first to "disappear." In later stages of deficiency, the other factors (which have longer half lives) are able to "catch up," and the PTT becomes elevated as well. Vitamin K-deficiency may occur by disturbed intestinal uptake (such as would occur in a bile duct obstruction), by therapeutic or accidental intake of a vitamin K-antagonist such as warfarin, or, very rarely, by nutritional vitamin K deficiency. As a result,