CARE OF THE UMBILICAL STUMP

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Abstract
It is not my intention to consider the clinical aspects of infections which affect the new-born infant through the umbilicus. The seriousness of such infections is well recognized. The more severe and fatal forms present clinical and post-mortem evidence which forces itself on the observer. The proof that milder types of infection originating in the umbilicus cause fever, jaundice, loss of weight and gastro-intestinal disturbances in the new-born infant is difficult to bring forward. It has been demonstrated that serious and fatal umbilical infections can exist and give no local ante-mortem evidence of their presence. It would not be unfair to conclude that milder forms could exist and the infant recover without local manifestations of umbilical disease. Such infections occur in isolated cases and in epidemic form in institutions. There may be the moist gangrene with the foul-smelling, putrefying cord, a simple omphalitis with a discharge of varying character, an

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