Description
A 78 year old retired headmaster was admitted as an emergency in July 1996 with a frank haematemesis. He had vomited approximately half a litre of fresh blood, denied any previous episodes and gave no history of melaena, dyspepsia or previous blood transfusions. Prior to admission he was taking aspirin and paroxetine for depression. He had given up smoking many years previously and denied heavy alcohol consumption. He had suffered from intermittent bouts of depression following experiences encountered as a Far Eastern prisoner of war, having been imprisoned for most of the Second World War in Java and Singapore. He was repatriated in 1945, had not returned to the tropics since and had remainedotherwise fit and well during most of his adult life.
