Atypical serology in neurosyphilis.

In a previous paper, Dewhurst (in press) surveyed the incidence, course, and natural history of the neurosyphilitic psychoses by analysing the clinical histories of 91 patients whose illnesses necessitated their admission to mental hospitals between 1950 and 1965. Selection bias was avoided as only patients requiring treatment in mental hospitals were included. In spite of the advanced stage of the disease, and the concomitant psychosis, nearly half (44 or 48%) of them were eventually discharged from hospital. Twenty-seven (30%) have become chronic mental hospital inmates, 18 died (20%) and two were treated in other mental hospitals. In this paper, conflicting serological reactions in blood and cerebrospinal fluid are related to clinical data and, in particular, to the effect on treatment and prognosis.