Megaloblastic Anemia in Infancy and Childhood in Djakarta

Since the publications on megaloblastic anemia in infants in 1946 by Zuelzer and Ogden in the United States1and by Amato in Italy2in 1947, many cases have been added.3-9This disease seems to be not uncommon in childhood, especially with malnutrition or kwashiorkor10,11; sporadic cases have been described previously by several authors.12-17 Inasmuch as the diagnosis of megaloblastic anemia is based on the finding of megaloblasts in the bone marrow, our purpose was to determine the incidence of megaloblastic anemia in children admitted to our pediatric clinic during the last four years on whom bone marrow punctures were done. It was our purpose also to investigate the pathogenesis of megaloblastic anemia and the clinical symptoms in these children. Materials and Methods During the years 1954 to 1957, a total of 1,200 bone marrow punctures were done on 800 children for the following indications: Hemoglobin