SPORADIC CONGENITAL GOITER CAUSING DEATH OF AN INFANT

Although thyroid enlargement in the newborn is not uncommon in certain districts where goiter is endemic, a perusal of the literature reveals surprisingly few instances of sporadic congenital goiter.

McCarrison found goiter in nursing infants in the regions of India where goiter is endemic. In some Himalayan villages 60 per cent of infants at the breast have goiter. According to Wieland, congenital goiter is common in Switzerland. About 50 per cent of untreated mothers gave birth to goitrous children in the Canton of Appenzall. Skinner reported an unusually high incidence of congenital goiter in the state of Washington. He found that 10 per cent of untreated mothers had goitrous babies. On the other hand, congenital goiter is practically unheard of in the Great Lakes goiter belt. In Ohio and Minnesota, where there has been a high incidence of simple goiter (particularly before the period of iodine prophylaxis), the incidence of