Year: 1965
Type: article
Abstract: Considerable attention has recently been paid to the group of sudden deaths in early childhood des- cribed as "cot deaths".Whereas Banks (1958) attributed most of the cases in his series to acute bacterial or viral infection, Valdes-Dapena and Hummeler (1963) and Cooke and Welch (1964) were able to elucidate only approximately one-quarter of their cases.However, where definite diagnoses could be made, infection predominated.This was also the experience of Coe and Hartman (1960).In contrast, relatively little attention is now paid to the role of infection in the general mortality of childhood.Yet throughout this period, infection remains not only the principal source of morbidity but is also a leading cause of death.From Table I it can be seen that in Scotland, while the total number of deaths in the adult group aged 15 to 55 years has almost halved over the past 30 years, there has been an 1 1-fold drop in the number of deaths which can be ascribed to infection, so that these now represent only 7 per cent. of the total mortality.Among infants aged 3 months to I year the total mortality is now less than one-sixth of its former level and there has been a 10-fold drop in infective deaths, yet more than 50 per cent. of all TABLE I
Institutions: Royal Hospital for Sick Children, University of Edinburgh
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1978705538