Neurosyphilis : $b Modern systematic diagnosis and treatment presented in one hundred and thirty-seven case historiesSouthard, Elmer Ernest
Science
Neurosyphilis : $b Modern systematic diagnosis and treatment presented in one hundred and thirty-seven case histories
Southard, Elmer Ernest
Neurosyphilis
This case had seizures a few months after initial observation, and
the seizures were followed by a transient right hemiplegia. This
right hemiplegia was shortly followed by a left hemiplegia, which
remained permanently. Moreover, a few weeks later, a right
hemiplegia again developed, leaving the patient with complete
paralysis and aphasia. Death followed in six weeks.
3. What effects were shown in the parents? Following up the parents
was rewarded by the discovery that the mother was suffering from
nerve deafness, probably of syphilitic origin, and that the father
had recently begun to suffer from what he considered rheumatism,
but which on examination was shown to be tabetic neurosyphilis
(“tabes dorsalis”). This family again supports the hypothesis that
there is a strain of spirochetes especially prone to attack the
nervous system. Here it would seem that the syphilis acquired by
the father had infected the mother and been transmitted to the
son. In all three infected by the same strain or strains of
organisms the nervous system was involved. It is difficult,
nevertheless, to explain on this hypothesis why in one case the
disease took the form of tabes dorsalis, in the second, eighth
nerve involvement and in the third, paresis. This question of
strains is really more than academic because it enters deeply into
the question of treatment, as well as that of the suggested
increased viability of the neural strain.
=Is there a relation between epilepsy and juvenile neurosyphilis?=
=Case 79.= John Doran fell off the rear of an ice-wagon, at six years of
age, and shortly afterward developed fits. It appears that John was not
unconscious at the time of his fall, but that he complained of headache.
Although the convulsions were fairly frequent at first, it appears that
they later became rare and occurred only when the patient got into a
temper. At the stage of exhaustion after violent excitement, John would
fall.
=Physically=, at 9 years a fair development and nutrition were evident.
There was a great exaggeration of the frontal bosses; the nose could not
be said to be typically saddlebacked, yet there was a suggestion of a
sinking of the bridge. The teeth slightly suggested the Hutchinsonian
type, but only slightly. There was a slight roughening of the tibia, and
there was a slight scar over either knee. The patient graded according
to the Binet scale at 9 years, and he was regarded as definitely
feebleminded.
The family physician states that, according to his information, the
father contracted syphilis when the child was between three and four
months of age, and that the mother also was infected at this time.
However, the child had not been suckled except immediately after birth,
and there had been no evidences, according to the family physician, that
John had acquired syphilis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account