Mongolism Following Intercurrent Infectious Disease in Pregnancy

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Abstract
IT IS generally agreed that mongolism is not hereditary in the sense that hemophilia and color blindness are hereditary.1 , 2 Abundant evidence1 shows that the risk of mongolism is greater in mothers of advanced age than in those who are younger. There is also a higher frequency of mongolism in homozygote as contrasted with heterozy-gote twins.3 By some this is interpreted to mean that the ovum or sperm is defective. Early reports tending to implicate diseases like syphilis, tuberculosis, malaria and alcoholism2 are inadequate to explain the large majority of cases. Indeed, no one etiology has been shown for the condition. . . .