GONOCOCCUS ARTHRITIS IN INFANCY

Abstract

Outbreaks of gonococcus arthritis in the new-born are exceedingly rare in hospitals. A search of the archives reveals no contemporary record of such occurrences, although prior to the introduction of antiseptic midwifery, the disease known as puerperal fever of the new-born, with joint complications probably of gonococcic origin, was prevalent. L. Emmett Holt, in 1905, reported twenty-six cases of gonococcus arthritis collected over a period of years from the Babies Hospital, New York. This was the largest number of cases of this disease from a single institution then on record. Incidentally, it might be of interest to note that fourteen of these infants died of the disease. In view of the rarity of this condition, I desire to place on record an experience with a remarkable outbreak of gonococcus arthritis in a large maternity hospital in Philadelphia. This epidemic aroused a neighborhood against the institution, caused its temporary shutdown as