View report page

42
Encephalitis Lethargica.
Encephalitis Lethargica.
Three cases of encephalitis lethargica were notified.
One proved not to be a case of the disease, in fact
there were little grounds for suspecting it to be a case.
Of the other two one was notified on February 3rd and
the other on December 21st.
The first case, a child 14 month', old, developed on
the 26th December, 1918, with coryza and running of
the eyes and with a slight rise in temperature. For
some days his condition remained unchanged, but on
the 3rd January, 1919, he was fretful and his temperature
was 104° F. The reflexes were then normal, there was
no Kernig's sign On the 9th January he became
unconscious and continued in this condition until the
15th January when he began to recover slowly, ultimately
recovering completely.
The second case, a man 37 years of age, developed on
the 12th December, 1919, and was notified on the 21st
December. At first he had pain in the abdomen
followed by drowsiness. Three days after the onset
he had pairf in the back, shaking and pain and loss of
power in the left arm. By the 17th December he was
sleeping most of the time with periods of wakefulness.
His temperature reached 103° F. There were no eye
symptoms and no facial paralysis. His speech was
slower but not otherwise changed. The patient returned
to his work on the 1st February, 1920, partial paralysis
of the left arm remaining.
Neither of these cases showed typical symptoms of
the disease and the diagnosis of encephalitis appears to
have been made because of the difficulty of finding
another to fit the case.