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Case Reports
May 1928

JUVENILE TABES DORSALIS: REPORT OF THREE CASES

Author Affiliations

CHICAGO
From the Syphilis Clinic at the Children's Memorial Hospital.

Am J Dis Child. 1928;35(5):866-871. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1928.01920230116012
Abstract

Because of the rare occurrence of tabes dorsalis in children, it seems worth while to report my observations in three cases. In more than 7,000 consecutive cases of nervous diseases in the Children's Hospital in Boston, not a single case of tabes appeared.1 In Abt's "Pediatrics" it is stated that only sixty true instances are recorded in the literature as occurring before the fifteenth year. Perhaps one reason for this may be as Hutinel2 says, "Doubtless it was confused with Friedreich's disease." That it is an extremely rare disease of childhood, however, is certain. Referring to juvenile tabes dorsalis and juvenile general paralysis, Sachs and Hausman3 in their late textbook say, "These forms are so rare that Sachs did not mention them in his former textbook." They say further: "Personal experience has convinced us that they deserve brief notice if errors are to be avoided." In many

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