At that time, his fortunes lower than ever, two of his older brothers died of tropical sprue, an acute infectious disease of the small bowel that at the time had no known cause or treatment.
—
Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, "We Are Scientists," 5 June 2018
: a disease of tropical regions that is of unknown cause and is characterized by fatty diarrhea, malabsorption of nutrients, and weight loss
Though pathologically indistinguishable from nontropical sprue (i.e., gluten-sensitive enteropathy, or celiac disease), tropical sprue … does not respond to the removal of gluten from the diet …— Edward T. Ryan et al., The New England Journal of Medicine, 15 Aug. 2002
