SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF VITAMIN B DEFICIENCY IN INFANTS

Abstract

Infantile beriberi is a well defined clinical entity, in the Philippines, in Japan, and indeed in any of the tropical countries where economical conditions force the expectant or nursing mother to subsist almost entirely on polished rice. The infantile death rate in our own Philippines, where the disease is readily recognized, is still very high. From personal observation of such cases while in the tropics recently, and from the excellent description of the disease in its acute and chronic form given us by Vedder, it seemed to me that many of the symptoms of mild and incipient cases of this disorder had their counterpart in the children's wards of hospitals in this country. On my return from the tropics two years ago, studies were begun to determine whether the symptomatology of well defined cases of beriberi in which there was a complete absence of the antineuritic substance in the diet