12006In the counties of Blekinge and Skåne (southernmost Sweden), mass deaths of several bird species, especially the European herring gull, have been observed since the early 2000s. More recently, species of other classes seems to be affected. High mortality of salmon (Salmo salar) in the river Mörrumsån is reported, and mammals such as the Eurasian elk (Alces alces) have died in unusually high numbers. Lack of thiamine is the common denominator where analysis is done. In April 2012, the County Administrative Board of Blekinge found the situation so alarming that they asked the Swedish government to set up a closer investigation. References
Further reading
Arnold, D (2010). "British India and the beri-beri problem". Medical History. 54 (3): 295–314. doi:10.1017/S0025727300004622. PMC 2889456. PMID 20592882. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Beri-Beri" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 03 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 774–775. Smith, HA (2017). Forgotten Disease: Illnesses Transformed in Chinese Medicine. doi:10.1093/jhmas/jry029. ISBN 9781503603509. OCLC 993877848. External links
 Media related to Beriberi at Wikimedia Commons
Elephantiasis is the enlargement and hardening of limbs or body parts due to tissue swelling. It is characterised by edema, hypertrophy, and fibrosis of skin and subcutaneous tissues, due to obstruction of lymphatic vessels. It may affect the genitalia. The term elephantiasis is often used in reference to (symptoms caused by) parasitic worm infections, but may refer to a variety of diseases where parts of a persons body swell to massive proportions. Cause
Some conditions that present with elephantiasis include:

Elephantiasis nostras, due to longstanding chronic lymphangitis
Elephantiasis tropica (known as lymphatic filariasis), caused by a number of parasitic worms, particularly Wuchereria bancrofti. More than 120 million people, mostly in Africa and Southeast Asia, are affected. Nonfilarial elephantiasis (or podoconiosis), an immune disease affecting the lymph vessels
Leishmaniasis
Elephantiasis, Grade 3 lymphedema which may occur in people with breast cancer
Genital elephantiasis, result of lymphogranuloma venereum
Proteus syndrome, a genetic disorder best known as the condition possibly experienced by Joseph Merrick, the so-called "Elephant Man. "Other causes may include:

Repeated streptococcal infection
Lymphadenectomy
Hereditary birth defects
Pretibial myxedema

References
External links

"Lymphatic filariasis". World Health Organization. Retrieved 1 June 2018.