[The effect of chronic alcoholic intoxication on the development and course of diphtheritic polyneuropathy]

The article reports in some detail on pathogenetic features of affections of the nervous system in those persons overindulging in alcohol. It is shown that the existing pathologies in the nervous system of the above patients get strikingly aggravated in diphtheria. Investigations designed to study the impact of chronic alcohol intoxication in 30 diphtheria patients overindulging in alcohol showed that there was a high case-fatality rate among persons falling into this category secondary to affections of the nervous system. Also common in this patient population were early developing grave lesions presenting as associations of the bulbar syndrome and peripheral disorders.