MORQUIO'S DISEASE ASSOCIATED WITH MENTAL DEFECT

Abstract

A search of the literature has revealed that since Morquio's original description of a type of familial osseous dystrophy 43 cases of the condition have been reported in this country and abroad. Morquio¹described 4 cases in a family of 5 children. The fifth child of this family was free of osseous dystrophy, but he was mentally defective. The father and mother were first cousins. Morquio pointed out that the bony alterations do not appear until after the first year, when the child begins to walk. The changes are painless and progressive for several months, eventually becoming stationary and permanent. The thorax, the vertebral column and the limbs become deformed, the head remaining normal. These skeletal deformities are symmetric and cause difficulty in locomotion. The patient on first sight appears as if he suffered from Pott's disease. The genu valgum, flat feet, deformity of the vertebral column and weakness