ADDISON'S DISEASE IN AN INFANT

Abstract

IN a recent review (2) of Addison's disease in children the reports of one hundred cases were analyzed. Sixty-two of these presented sufficient evidence to be classified as “proved”. Only four cases under five years of age were found; three ofthese were associated with macrogenitosomia (1, 4, 5, 8, 9). The case study presented by Wilkins, Fleischmann and Howard (9)conclusively demonstrated that hyperplasia of the androgenic or fetal zone of the adrenals can be associated with insufficiency of the true cortical tissue. The other two similar cases were living at the tiine of the report and required specific therapy. The fourth case was a three year old girl, reported by Netter (4);the adrenal glands were found at autopsy to be destroyed by tuberculous lesions. Up to this time this was the youngest patient in whom tuberculosis was responsible for the disease. The purpose of the present paper is to report the youngest recorded “proved” case of Addison's disease, and to describe the response of this girl, aged six and one-half months, to therapy with desoxycorticosterone acetate, with beef cortical extract, and with pork cortical extract.