On chorea, or St. Vitus's dance, in children / by Octavius Sturges.

  • Sturges, Octavius, 1833-1894.
Date:
1893
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On chorea, or St. Vitus's dance, in children / by Octavius Sturges. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    we find its favourite age included between the time of second dentition and that of puberty ; its favourite sex is the female ; the temperament that invites it most is the sensitive and emotional; it is apt to increase in severity as it decreases in frequency, little children suffering quite commonly, yet hardly ever with a fatal result, whilst of the few instances of adult chorea a notable proportion have died. Further, the disorder is but little if at all hereditary, and more common in highly civihsed countries than in other parts of the world. So much is certain; what is to follow is to some extent involved in con- troversy. The exciting causes of chorea, its clinical and patho- logical associations, common sequelae, modes of progress and of cure, furnish so much material out of which every student of the disorder seeks to obtain a sanction for his own conceptions as to its real nature. I shall endeavour in this place to give the commonly received opinions upon the points just enumerated, in terms which shall be free, as far as possible, from matters of speculation and difference. Be the exciting cause of chorea what it may, there is com- monly a distinct interval between cause and effect. It is pro- bable that such interval is really shorter than it appears inasmuch as the disorder is seldom observed at its very com- mencement. Dr. Hughes' made special inquiry into this point in 26 cases. He found that in 13, or exactly half of these, this interval was of not more than a week, in 2 of the 26 it was between one and two weeks, in 3 it exceeded two weeks, and in 8 there was no appreciable interval. Thus in all but 5 the attack followed its presumed cause either immediately or within a week, the latter being the commoner event. The immediate exciting cazises of chorea are variously stated by different authors. It is certain and universally admitted that fright and mental disturbance ai’e prominent amongst these, ' Guy’s Hospital Reports, 1846, p. 380.