SERUM PHOSPHATASE ACTIVITY AND CLINICAL RICKETS IN CHILDREN IN JERUSALEM

Abstract

Rickets, which is largely the result of absence of ultraviolet radiation, may be expected to be rare in countries with abundant insolation. However, the data cited by Hess¹in his book on rickets show that the incidence in some warmer countries is not essentially different from that in northern latitudes. The differences in the diagnostic standards and methods employed and in the age of the children examined make evaluation of the results recorded by various examiners exceedingly difficult. Statements about the prevalence of rickets in the countries of the Near East are few, and opinions about it are divergent. Hitherto the newer and more exact roentgenologic and serologic examinations have not been employed sufficiently in these countries, and, consequently, simple clinical observations have remained the basis of statistics on rickets. In Istanbul, Turkey, Marfan,²in 1907, found that rickets occurred frequently, though previous reports had indicated that it