<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
For those of you with newsgroup access there is an interesting thread in the
sci.med newsgroup. The thread has turned into a battle between Ron Hoggan of
this list and a doctor that teaches at the University of Illinois College of
Medicine at Peoria. The posts are becoming longer and the thread is still
ongoing. The doctor is arguing that despite the studies in Europe, celiac
sprue is too rare in the US to suspect it as the cause. Any comments that it
is more common here in the US he says are just opinions, and he digs up
several old studies to prove how rare it is here. Here is one memorable
comment from the doctor:
 
Newsgroup: sci.med
Subject: Re: HELP- GAll BLADDER
From: Steven Belknap <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 29 Aug 1996 06:18:19 GMT
 
Ron Hoggan said:
 
> Given the data I have just presented, I think that the diagnostic yield
> would be huge, and might save billions of health care dollars. It would
> also offer a huge improvement in quality of life, for millions of people.
 
Dr. Belknap replied:
 
Utter nonsense. Maybe 25,000 people in the USA have celiac sprue. Most are
asymptomatic and probably not at risk for complications of sprue.
 
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So anybody is welcome to contribute to the thread. Doctors studying celiac
sprue would be most appreciated.
 
Don Wiss.