Observations on three hundred cases of acute meningitis in infants and young children / L. Emmett Holt.

  • Holt, L. Emmett (Luther Emmett), 1855-1924.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Observations on three hundred cases of acute meningitis in infants and young children / L. Emmett Holt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    and, still more infrequently, evidences of more serious pulmonary disease were present; but the great majority of them showed no pulmonary signs of disease whatever. An attempt has been made to see in how many cases of tuberculous meningitis bacilli could be found in the sputum. In many it has been difficult to secure any proper sputum for examination. Yet in 116 patients in whom the effort was made, bacilli were found in forty-nine. These cases were taken routine, not selected because of the presence of pulmonary signs or symptoms. It is true that the number of bacilli is seldom large and unless careful and sometimes repeated examinations are made, they are likely to be missed. Yet when present they were found Chart 2. The age incidence in 218 cases of tuberculous meningitis. at the first examination in three-fourths of the cases, although in one case, not until the sixth examination. The close association of tuberculous meningitis with inflammations of the respiratory tract is also suggested in the accompanying chart. The lower curve in Chart 1 shows the deaths from pneumonia in New York City for 1909. The similarity of these two curves is certainly striking. I do not think that the tuberculous meningitis in older children would show so close an association with pulmonary disease as is true in infancy. Age Incidence.—Chart 2 shows the age incidence. Inasmuch as the Babies Hospital admits children up to three years of age the curve I think may be taken to represent pretty accurately the occurrence of the disease in patients below that age. Only three patients under three