A study of school children who had identified virus infections of the central nervous system during infancy.

Forty-nine children who had a virus infection of the central nervous system (CNS) when under 1 year of age were studied. One child had died during the initial illness and three of the survivors were severely disabled. The other survivors, more than 5 years after the initial illness, were all attending normal schools. These 45 children, together with 45 matched controls, were examined. We confirm the findings of other studies that virus infections of the CNS in infancy may cause severe disabilities in some cases, and may depress intellectual abilities in others, even though they appear to have recovered fully. Many of the children who had a virus infection of the CNS in infancy had adverse birth and social histories and so were exceptionally vulnerable, but these factors did not account fully for the findings, and when their influence was included in the analysis, the index children still had a mean performance IQ (WISC) 6 points lower than the control children (P less than 0.05), whereas there was less than 1 point difference between the verbal IQs. Attention is drawn to the problem of virus infections in neonatal units.

The spread of Coxsackie B1 infection.

During June and July 1977 5 junior boys in a boarding school for 800 pupils became ill with a mild infection caused by Coxsackie B1. The school had been taking part in a vaccine trial, and paired blood samples had been taken from new entrants in October 1976 and October 1977. 18% of the boys susceptible to the infection developed antibodies. The results suggest that dormitories are more important than the day-to-day contacts in the spread of infection. The advisability of nursing children with known or suspected enterovirus infections in open wards in hospital is questioned.

Cross-sectional studies of physical growth in twins. Postmature and small-for-dates children.

From 16955 live births which occurred throughout the United Kingdom in April 1970, three groups of children who might have suffered from fetal malnutrition, i.e. the multiple, postmature and small-for-dates births were selected with a 10% random sample. Their birthweights and weights, heights and head circumference measurements were compared at the ages of 22 months and 3 1/2 years. Differences between the random and postmature groups still present at 22 months disappeared at 3 1/2 years. Variations in the other groups persisted and the compensation occurring at 22 months had apparently ceased at 3 1/2 years. The three examinations were linked and the children including those in the control group showed considerable mobility in their quartile ratings. Only a minority remained unchanged. At the same time the weights of the heavier and lighter children tended to go towards the mean. As the velocity of growth slowed the redistribution tended to lessen but was still taking place at the age of 3 1/2 years.