It has been established by numerous qualitative studies that acetone bodies are found in the urine of patients with infectious diseases. But few quantitative studies have been made in regard to this point, and these by early and rather imperfect analytical methods. As a part of a general study of acetonuria, we have collected some data in regard to the degree of acetonuria occurring in some of the infectious diseases of childhood, using the method of Schaffer for determining the quantity of acetone bodies.
Observations were made on forty-one children with scarlet fever, diphtheria, measles and pneumonia. In the majority of the observations, the collection of urine was started immediately on the admission of the patient to the hospital or after the onset of the disease. In a number, however, the infectious disease developed or was contracted during the presence of the patient in the hospital for some other condition,