JAMA

doi: 10.1001/jama.1968.03140100091045pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1001/jama.1968.03140100093046pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1001/jama.1968.03140100095047pmid: N/A

Spinal Injury Suspect In Crib Deaths Autopsies on crib death cases have revealed evidence of spinal injury, indicating a possible cause of the puzzling condition. Abraham Towbin, MD, told the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists in Chicago that in eight cases of "crib death," seven babies were found to have spinal epidural hemorrhage. This form of spinal injury is commonly found in autopsies on the newborn. The exception, he said, was a two-month-old infant who had massive aspiration of gastric contents. Three control cases, infants who died of distinctly different pathological causes, showed no spinal hemorrhage. Dr. Towbin is associate professor of pathology in the Department of Pathology, Boston University School of Medicine. Although spinal epidural hemorrhage is not necessarily lethal, Dr. Towbin said, the force of the trauma producing it, "extending its effects, and impairing the function of the cervical cord, may precipitously bring about spinal shock

doi: 10.1001/jama.1968.03140100107048pmid: N/A

Despite improvement in treatment services, mental illness cost the nation more than $20 billion in 1966. Stanley F. Yolles, MD, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said that the total bill, if divided among all Americans, would be almost $48 per citizen in that year. Commenting on the NIMH study, Wilbur J. Cohen, under secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, said the costs would have been even higher had it not been for many improvements in mental health services across the country. 'Efforts Paying Off' "One of the department's major priorities is to increase knowledge and manpower and improve treatment services in mental health," Cohen said, "and our efforts are paying off as shown by the latest survey of the number of patients in state and county mental hospitals." He added that last year saw the sharpest decrease in resident patients in such hospitals since

doi: 10.1001/jama.1968.03140100110049pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1001/jama.1968.03140100140050pmid: N/A

Fried, Ralph I.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1968.03140100186051pmid: N/A

Morse, Howard N.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1968.03140100189052pmid: N/A

Frame, John D.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1968.03140100001001pmid: N/A

Among a group of 178 adult missionaries in Ethiopia, icteric hepatitis occurred at an annual rate of 5.5%. In another group of 57 adults in Ethiopia, and among 66 adults in Sudan, the annual rates were 3.9% and 2.0%, respectively. The incidence among children tended to be lower. The incidence of hepatitis continued at a high level for many years. As a prophylactic, γ-globulin would have been required for many years, not only for the first few. Not more than 55% appeared likely to develop immunity because of inapparent (anicteric) infection. The rate of second bouts of icteric hepatitis was about one fifth the rate for first attacks. The presence of a cold season in the climate may have contributed to the high incidence of hepatitis in Ethiopia, as compared to Sudan.

Miller, George D.; Tindall, John P.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1968.03140100009002pmid: N/A

A vesicular exanthem with a characteristic oral-hand-foot pattern has been reported with some frequency in the last few years, and enteroviruses of Coxsackie group A have been implicated. Type A16 is most common, but A5 and A9 have been reported occasionally. The entity associated with type A16 was apparently widespread in the summer and fall of 1966. The course is usually benign but serious complications have been reported in the literature. Although children are most often infected, this series reports only one child out of a total of 11 patients studied. This viral syndrome is not to be confused with "hoof and mouth disease," a rarity in humans and not caused by a coxsackievirus.