1 The Endocrine Clinic, Department of Pediatrics B, Bikur-Holim General Hospital, 5 Strauss Street, P.O. Box 492 Jerusalem, Israel
2 The Endocrine Clinic, Department of Pediatrics B, Bikur-Holim General Hospital, 5 Strauss Street, P. O. Box 492 Jerusalem, Israel
A case of acute and severe thyrotoxicosis (without goiter and exophthalmos) in a 3-month-old male infant is reported. The case is unusual because of (1) the extreme rarity of the condition below the age of 6 months, and (2) the presence of features characteristic of the neonatal variety (gross cardiac insufficiency, hepatoslpenomegaly out of proportion to the heart.) LATS (long-acting thyroid stimulator) assay was positive in the patient and negative in his mother who was euthyroid. Prolonged antithyroid therapy was required to maintain the remission induced by iodine. It is postulated that in the present case an antecedent infection acting upon a (hereditarily transmitted?) liability of the thyroid cell toward disordered function, was the direct cause.