CHOREA 259 



I>. Hedonal, 12.0 



F. M. capsule ct divid. No. 12. 

 Sig. — One daily. 



Chorea. 



(St. Vitus's Dance.) 



Etiology. — Chorea we no longer consider an independent disease, but 

 the result of a number of complications which should really be classed 

 under other heads; for instance, in young dogs that are insufficiently fed, 

 or from obscure cerebral diseases. It is also seen in myelitis, and some 

 cases of symptomatic chorea, but in the majority of cases it must be 

 attributed to some pathological change as a result of distemper. 



In true chorea of man we do not see any pathological alterations of 

 the lirain, and in the few cases which the writer had to consider as true 

 chorea on account of the anaemia, absence of any symptoms of distemper, 

 or other diseases of the brain and spine. The toxic effect of bacteria 

 present in the intestines has been advanced as a possible cause by some, 

 but there is little probability that the convulsions were restricted to cer- 

 tain special muscular groups, and not, as in human chorea, to irregular 

 regions — that is to say, in the various muscular centres of the body. In 

 some of these cases the animals were destroyed, and their post-mortems 

 gave an entirely negative result, there being no apparent pathological 

 change in the central nervous system. As a rule, the affected animals are 

 in an ansemic condition and show all the effects of bad nutrition, and, 

 after some ol)servation, we are convinced that with improvement in the 

 general system the choreic symptoms become very much lessened. 

 Joest in the Zeitschrift fur Tiermedizin, 1904, gives a detailed account of 

 the disease. 



Clinical Symptoms and Course. — We define this disease as a persistent 

 clonic convulsion of some muscular group in certain parts of the body. 

 For instance, we see shaking of the head, twitching movements with one 

 or two legs, regular, and also an automatic opening and closing of the 

 mouth, irregular movements of the tongue, and an undulating action or 

 movement of the whole body. If the patients are left to themselves, the 

 twitching action is generally less marked, and under physical excitement 

 becomes much more aggravated; and are also increasetl when eating, and 

 during catarrhal conditions of the air-passages, or the intestines, stomach, 

 etc. The clonic movements lessen during sleep and under the influence 

 of ether, chloroform, and bromo-ether, but morphia and chloral have 

 little or no influence upon them. The course of this disease is slow, and 

 may extend for months and years; but, as a rule, the symptoms lessen 



