Towards the end of the war against Japan, John's right leg was ravaged by a
tropical ulcer and he became so ill he was unable to work.
"A bamboo cut could turn into a
tropical ulcer which would cause gangrene - and medics would have to amputate without anaesthetic," he says.
Using her own body, or rather her own
tropical ulcer as a methodological tool, Povinelli describes the cultural interpretations, discourses and economies of ill health in Australia, Canada and the United States.
She returned to the United States and presented with tenderness of the nodules and mild local adenopathy; the differential diagnosis included
tropical ulcer, atypical mycobacterial infection, fungal infection, cutaneous anthrax, and poxvirus infection, which was the diagnosis confirmed by the CDC.