Rickets
Rickets is the medical term for Vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D or D3 is a naturally occurring substance produced by the irradiation with ultraviolet light of the pro vitamin, 7- dehydrocholesterol.
The sources of natural vitamin D are the following:
– animal foods
– egg yolk
– fish liver oils
– fishbody oils
– cow’s mild or human milk in small amounts
Vitamin D2 (calciferol) is an entirely artificial product prepared by irradiating ergosterol.
So, how can humans acquire vitamin D? This can be available to man in two ways:
1. Irradiation of the provitamin in the skin with ultraviolet rays
2. Ingesting the very limited types of food containing this factor
Between the two ways of acquiring vitamin D in the human body, it is number 1 which is more important since food as a source of vitamin D is generally not important.
Other causes of rickets or epiphyseal dysplasia are:
– during rapid growth as occurring in prematures and adolescents
– children with disorders of absorption
– children with hepatic disease
-maternal malnutrition
– poverty
Clinically, children with rickets have the following features:
– craniotabes
– caput quadratum
– soft border of the anterior fontanel
– rachitic rosary
– marked impairment of growth
– mental retardation and delay in motor skills
Children above 2 years of age may show :
– bowing of the lower extremities
– widened wrists
– knock knees
– thick ankles
– pronated feet
– protruding abdomen
– flabby muscles
– and Harrison’s groove
If left untreated, respiratory infections such as bronchitis and bronchopneumonia are common. Also, gastroenteritis and anemia may occur.