One problem facing the Italian Medical Nutrition Mission in 1945-46 was the great number of infants and children suffering from severe and chronic malnutrition. Through lack of sanitation, milk control and proper food, cases of severe inanition were encountered quite frequently in southern Italy.The obvious dehydration of these emaciated infants on one hand and the poor results obtained with intravenous fluid therapy on the other hand suggested that there existed a severe disturbance of the distribution of body water rather than a simple deficiency in body fluids. Studies under the actual conditions of a war-torn and povertystricken country seemed therefore to be desirable.
METHODS AND MATERIAL
Clinical materialTwenty-three cases of severe marasmus in infancy and six cases of chronic malnutrition in older children were examined and 55 observations were made. Prior to being admitted to the Annunziata Hospital in Naples these infants had suffered generally from several attacks of gastro-intestinal disturbances, particularly diarrhea and vomiting, which presumably caused their initial loss of 1The present studies are a part of the work of the Italian Medical Nutrition Mission, 1945-46. This Mis-sion was sponsored by the Unitarian Service Committee,