Show SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME IS ON THE THERISE THERISE THERISE RISE states Roberta Mahin a spokesperson for the State Department of Health Sudden Infant Death Syndrome commonly to as is a rare disease that affects children up to two years of age They die and later after the be found Post no adequate cause of death can There are however certain positive findings that can make a diagnosis of possible Before 1979 Utah had a lower than national average For example in 1978 one infant out of died of much much lower than the national average of one out of In 1979 Utah had a 53 increase of deaths due to This increases the Utah statistics to one infant out of Strikingly Utah is the only state to have shown an increase of deaths against the national norm Why the increase Ms Mahin states there may be reason Better reporting The new Medical Examiner has broadened broaden broaden- ed the perimeters Exactly how kills and how it can be prevented is still largely unknown Even so its presence is clearly ascertainable by autopsy and is often indicated by certain certain certain tain physical evidence surrounding a sudden unexplained death For hundreds of years unexplained deaths of infants during sleep were routinely attributed to overlaying by mother or wet This is represented by an interpretation interpretation interpretation tation found in 1 Kings 3 20 20 19 and this womans woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it And she arose at midnight and took my myson myson myson son from beside me while thine handmaiden slept and laid it in her bosom and laid her dead child in my b bosom osom It is not surprising that death of this type did not achieve prominent mention in major pediatric works of earlier earlier earlier ear ear- lier times Tremendous infant and childhood mortality rates from infectious infectious infectious in in- diseases malnutrition and others currently preventable preventable preventable pre pre- conditions completely overshadowed these events They presumably conditioned the parents and physicians to toa a more casual acceptance of early death though unexpected Human history records deliberate killing of infants by exposure suffocation and other means as acceptable tice So in many societies overlaying was viewed with tolerance In the century there was a rise to the theory that the deaths routinely described as suffocation were attributable attributable attributable to an enlarged thymus a gland in the neck The result of the concept was a very modern and humanitarian humanitarian humanitarian approach to the problem Deaths thought to be due to neglect accident or even deliberate infanticide could now confidently be ascribed to a diagnosable medical condition if an autopsy were done and the grieving ridden guilt-ridden and even legally prosecuted parent or nurse could be exonerated exonerated exonerated ex ex- when an enlarged thymus could be found Later clinical studies doubted the validity that an enlarged enlarged enlarged enlar enlar- ged thymus and its counterpart asthma were the actual cause of sudden infant deaths In 1858 death and asthma were denounced A Washington state King County report states that one of the most consistent and perhaps the single most characteristic characteristic characteristic charac charac- feature of reported cases is the age distri distri- The peak incidences are between the second and fourth months of life with rapid decline before age six months It is apparent from this study that 50 of have occurred before three months and 91 have occurred by the sixth month Almost all aU deaths occurred during normal sleeping hours Over third one-third of the deaths occurred with another person in the room and dozens of times an awake adult is in the area according to the King County Study What does all aU this mean It means we have a fic seemingly non-contagious non tragedy that has been around a long time and will continue to be around a long time So far 62 children in Utah have experienced death by this year That's eight more than last year at this time |