FASTING AS A CAUSE OF CONVULSIONS

Abstract

The onset of acute infections in young children, especially in those under 3 years of age, is particularly likely to be attended by convulsions. Infantile eclampsia and spasmophilia are terms that have been used to cover ignorance of the true cause. The latter term implies a recognition of the further observations that certain children are especially susceptible to this type of convulsive seizure, so that in them the convulsions may be said to be of a recurrent nature. Moreover, it is well known that these convulsions offer a relatively good ultimate prognosis, in other words, that the child will out-grow them. Undoubtedly, many of these attacks are manifestations of tetany, especially those occurring in rachitic children in the first 2 years of life. Others are due to actual lesions of the brain, congenital or acquired, and these are usually associated with some degree of mental retardation. Idiopathic epilepsy would account