ILLS OF CHILDHOOD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 255, 25 September 1935, Page 11

ILLS OF CHILDHOOD.

AIYSTERIES OF PINK DISEASE. ' Some of the mysteries of the obscure “pink disease” of children, so called because a decided pink colouration of the hands and feet is one of the symptoms, were discussed in the section devoted to diseases of children at the 8.A1.A. Conference in Alelbourne. The first address was given by Dr. Jeffreys AVood. who said that the disease had been described in Germany in 1906, but that it had not attracted attention until it was rediscovered by Dr. Swift, of Adelaide, in 1914. The disease occurred in children aged from eight to eighteen months, and the symptoms were irritability, rapid loss of weight and of appetite, and the pinkness of tho extremities. The muscles became flabby, including the muscles in the walls of the arteries, and, as a result, the circulation became poor. The condition usually continued for several months, after which the patients usually recovered, lie said, but of children who were sufficiently ill to be admitted to hospital from 5 per cent, to 20 per cent, died, usually from secondary causes due to lack of resistance to disease. The cause of the disease was still unknown and, therefore, treatment had to be confined to alleviating the more severe symptoms. Cases had been known in children aged up to 10, and one case in an adult had been recorded from Queensland. From the variety of opinions expressed about the nature of the malady and the general interest which the discussion aroused, considerable progress in the investigation of the disease is expected. Five cases were demonstrated at the Children’s Hospital.