Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1960, Page 37

Nýggir tilburðir við tuberklasjúkum í Eiðis læknadømi 43
In the case of 14 children and adults (9 male, 5 female) tuberculosis
occurred in limbs and bones. 3 of these became ill twice, the second
time the tuberculosis was in an entirely different bone. The total
number of cases was thus 17 (11 m„ 6 f.). Table 1 shows that these
fall naturally into 2 groups: children under 15 years, in all 6 cases
(4 children), and adults between 20 and 39 years, 10 cases involving
9 persons (8 m., 1 f.). Further the case of a woman over 60. There
was no case between 15 and 19 years. This position is reversed in
cases of initial fever, noted at the bottom of Table 1. It occurred
more frequently during these years than at any other time.
There are two cases of tuberculosis of the joints: 1 child and 1
adult. In the case of the child spondylitis occurred 2 years 5 months
after tuberculosis of the knee joint. This case is therefore given on
Table 2 (No. 3), which deals with the cases of spondylitis, 8 in all,
further the tubercular diseases which proceded and followed behind.
In 4 out of the 8 cases spondylitis arose within two years after the
date of infection. The period was longer in the other cases, in the
case of No. 9 at least 20 years. 1 of the 8 patients with spondylitis
had only a single tubercular vertebra, all the others had two. In 6
cases the lumber vertebrae were affected and these only were tubercular.
Altogether 3 of the patients with bone tuberculosis died, 1 of pulm;
onary tuberculosis. Table 3 consists of a list of those bones and joints
where the tuberculosis was situated.
Altogether 19 (9 m., 10 f.) children and adults with tuberculosis of
the subcutaneous glands. Their sex and age are given in Table 4. 14
had glandular swellings on the neck, in 4 cases swellings were in the
elbow and armpits, and 1 case was diagnosed as adenitis subcutanea
tuberculosa universal. It will be seen from Table 5 that 5 of the 15,
all children aged 10 years or less and 2 others aged 15 and 21 years,
developed their tubercular swellings within 2 years of infection. 6 showed
an interval of 5 to 18 years from infection to illness, 1 took at least 9
years, another not less than 12 years between infection and illness, in
4 cases no details are available. In 3 of the 19 cases growth of the
subcutaneous glands and the incidence of tubercular disease in the
lungs and pleura occurred to some extent simultaneously.
In the case of 5 men and 1 woman the tuberculosis was situated
in the genital organs. 4 of the 5 men had tuberculosis on both sides,
only 1 case, the oldest of all, was on one side only. In none of the
cases did both glands become affected at the same time, the interval
being from 6 months to 2 years. The date of infection is not known
in the case of the two oldest patients, aged 57 and 38; infection in
the other 3 cases took place 4 years, 6 months and 4 months respech
ively before illness. The last 2 also had tuberculosis in other organs