Case of diphtheritic paralysis without any preceding history of throat affection / by C.O. Hawthorne.
- Hawthorne, C. O. (Charles Oliver), 1858-1949
- Date:
- [1893]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Case of diphtheritic paralysis without any preceding history of throat affection / by C.O. Hawthorne. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![Reprinted from the Glaagow Medical Journcd for Noremher, ].S93.] CASE OF DIPHTHERITIC PARALYSIS WITHOUT ANY PRECEDING HISTORY OF THROAT AFFECTION * By C. 0. HAWTHORNE, M.B., CM. The patient who is the subject of this communication is a boy of eight years. He was admitted to Ward I of the Western Infirmary on 26th August, 1893, complaining of weakness of his legs. At that date he presented symptoms which, I think, will be generally allowed to afford an ample justification of the diagnosis of diphtheritic paralysis. The muscular substance of the limbs generally was wanting in firmne.ss, and though there was nowhere absolute paralysis, the voluntary movements of the limbs were decidedly deficient in power. When walking he was rather unsteady: the feet were kept wide apart, and only slightly lifted from the ground, and he was quite unable to maintain his balance when endeavouring to walk along a single plank. The knee- jerks were entirely absent. All the superficial reflexes were easily obtained, with the exception of the plantar, which were not very marked. Albumen was present in the urine. The boy was quite obviously anaemic, and the blood tested by Gowers' ha^inoglobinometer showed only 55 per cent of haemoglobin. The pul.se, on admission, numbered 64, and the first twenty-two observations gave an average of only 71-8. If to these clinical facts there be added the statement of the boy's mother, that about three weeks before the date of admission she had noticed that the lad began to speak through his nose, to have difficulty in swallowing, and that, when drinking, the fluid came back through his nostrils, there seemed to be no room for doubt that the case was one of diphtheritic paralysis. There are, however, certain r>*u P^P^* ^^^^^ *° Glasgow Medico-Chirurgical Society on bth October, 1893, the patient being shown to the meeting.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21457256_0001.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
