MEDICAL-GENEALOGY-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [MEDI-GENE] Marasmas
Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 21:11:10 EST

Hi Kate Lynn,

I'm also happy to see the list active again, as it gives me something to
research. I am a retired family nurse practitioner and I enjoy learning as I
try to help others with their medical questions.

I do not know when Pyloric Stenosis was first diagnosed, but I imagine it was
after x-rays came into common use and anesthesia --- probably ether --- was
used in infants. I have only two medical books by my computer, but have more
upstairs and will see what I can find in them re: dates later.

Marasmus is a defined in Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 1965, as
"emaciation, wasting, atrophy which occurs wholly as a result of acute
diseases, esp. diarrhea. Most common from 6-18 months."

Pyloric stenosis is defined in Merck Manual, 1987, "Muscular hypertrophy
(overgrowth) is rarely present at birth but developes over the first 4-6
weeks of life, and symptoms of obstruction do not commonly appear until
then."

Pyloric stenosis can be genetic, Merch Manual, 1987. "There is a striking
sex ratio of 5 males: 1 female, suggesting that the threshold for girls is
higher. Thus, the female apparently requires more potent liability genes in
order to develop the condition, and ought to have more affected siblings and
a greater risk of producing affected offspring than a male with pyloris
stenosis. Family studies confirm this."

From this I gather that if the infants died between 2-6 months of age, it may
have been from pyloric stenosis. If they died after 6 months of age, it may
have been from any infection/illness that caused prolonged fever, vomiting
and/or diarrhea.

I hope this is helpful, and I'll try to find more for you.

Sandy in Sacramento

This thread:

• [MEDI-GENE] Disease name? by
  • Re: [MEDI-GENE] Marasmas by "Kate Lynn" <>

    • Re: [MEDI-GENE] Marasmas by

    • Re: [MEDI-GENE] Marasmas by