POLIOENCEPHALITIS HAEMORRHAGICA OF WERNICKE ASSOCIATED WITH FEBRILE DISEASE: REPORT OF TWO CASES, ONE OCCURRING DURING TYPHOID FEVER AND VERIFIED BY AUTOPSY

After Wernicke's original publication¹ in 1881, polioencephalitis haemorrhagica was long thought to be associated with chronic alcoholism.² In recent years, however, many cases of the disease in nonalcoholic persons have been reported. Tanaka,³ in 1934, observed this condition in breast-fed infants and it was interpreted in Japan as the result of "human milk intoxication." In 1936 Uchimura and Akimoto⁴ reported a case associated with cerebral vascular syphilis. Környey⁵ recorded 2 cases in 1937. In 1 of them a Korsakoff psychosis developed after gastric resection for cancer, and in the other persistent vomiting accompanied recurrent carcinoma of the cervix uteri. In the same year Neubürger6 reported 3 cases of the disease associated with chronic gastritis. Polioencephalitis haemorrhagica had also been observed in cases of Hodgkin's disease (Környey⁷), subcutaneous and pulmonary abscesses and malaria (Neubürger⁸), scurvy (Alexander and Putnam⁹), nutritional deficiency (Ecker and Woltman