AGRANULOCYTIC ANGINA IN A CHILD: PATHOLOGY AND PATHOGENESIS

A peculiar combination of symptoms characterized by ulcerative nasopharyngitis and extreme leukopenia with a constant diminution or even total disappearance of granulocytes, termed "agranulocytosis" by Werner Schultz in 1922, was originally thought to occur almost exclusively among middle-aged females. The existence of this condition in infancy and childhood is still a matter of speculation. Cases have been reported by Schwarz,¹ Bantz,² Reye,³ Weiss,⁴ Zahorsky,⁵ Dayton,⁶ Dwyer and Helwig,⁷ Carrau,⁸ Christoff,⁹ Tokue and Yasumoto,¹⁰ Rosenblum,^10a Hyde,^10b and Harkins.¹¹ There is also a report by Bigler and Brennemann¹² of ten cases from the Children's Memorial Hospital. A comparative study of the principal items in the foregoing cases suggests, however, that not all of them can be called authentic cases of agranulocytic angina, according to the original conceptions of Schultz¹³ and Friedemann.¹⁴ The cases reported by Schwarz,