“PINK” DISEASE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 221, 19 August 1931, Page 11

“PINK” DISEASE.

PUZZLES THE DOCTORS. The outbreak on Tyneside of “Pink” disease lias a special interest in view of the rarity of this complaint, says the medical correspondent of the London Morning Post. Until after the war it was unknown anywhere, except in Australia, and even there it was regarded as a new disease in 1914. The first cases in England were reported in 1922. The disease then spread to the United States, where it has since been regarded as a new manifestation in children of a well-known adult disease, “acrodynia,” but this view is not generally held elsewhere. In Paris, iii 1928 and 1929, there was an epidemic, but since adults were almost exclusively affected, the condition was probably not Pink disease, though the symptoms were very typical. The infection, for some regard it, is for the most part limited to children between the ages of 9 months and two years, and generally starts with a feverish chill. The feet and hands then become swollen reddishblue, and cold; an intensely irritable pink rash spreads over the body, and the lips and mouth are acutely inflamed.

There is usually no fever, but the child becomes exceedingly irritable, and later, acutely miserable—so does the mother, to such an extent as to have given rise to the remark that this constitutes a distinctive sign. The child cannot sleep at all, the muscles grow limp, and may waste, and food is absolutely refused. In this' country it lias been suggested that Pink disease is caused by an inflammation of the nerve sheaths. The old idea that it is one of the vitamin deficiency diseases has not been altogether abandoned; yeast has been tried as a treatment, and also as a preventive in districts where there is an epidemic. The obvious interference with the circulation is probably due to nerve disturbance, and is not a primary cause of the very distressing symptoms. When no complications occur the deatlirate is fortunately very low. The chief dangers to be guarded against are the development of broncho pneumonia, the lighting up of a hidden consumptive infection, and the appearance of boils—all of which sequels threaten life, owing to the great weakness of the child.

Special attention to feeding is vitally important in view of the complete loss of appetite.