Chorea

{ko-re’ -ah) [xopeiat dancing]. St. Yitus’s dance. A functional nervous disorder, usually occurring in youth, characterized by irregular and involuntary action of the muscles of the extremities, face, etc., with general muscular weakne . Frequently a mitral systolic murmur is heard, often hemic, but in a large proportion of cases due to endocarditis, and there seems to be a close relation between the two diseases. Rheumatism often coexists. Chorea may be caused by a number of conditions, among which are fright and reflex irritation. It affects girls about three times as frequently as boys. Occasionally a form of chorea is seen in the adult, and may become a serious complication of pregnancy, resulting in the death of both fetus and mother. When it occurs late in life it generally resists treatment. C, Button maker’s, a form of chorea occurring in persons employed in making buttons. C, Chronic. See C, Hunting don’s. C, Electric. See DubinVs Disease. C, Epidemic, dancing mania. C, Habit. See Spasm. C, Hereditary. See C., Hunting don ’s. C, Hysteric. See C, Major. C, Hunting don’s, an hereditary affection of adult or middle life, characterized by irregular movements, disturbance of speech, and gradual dementia. C. insaniens, maniacal chorea; a grave form of chorea usually seen in women, and a ociated with mania, and usually ending fatally. It may develop during pregnancy. C, Maniacal. See C. insaniens. C. major, a form of hysteria in which there are continual regular oscillatory movements. C, Mimetic, that which is caused by imitation. C. minor, simple chorea. C, Post hemiplegic, C, Post paralytic, a form of involuntary movement seen in patients after an attack of hemiplegia. C, School-made, chorea resulting from overstimulation of children at school. C, Senile, a choreiform affection coming on in old age. C, Sydenham’s, ordinary chorea. 191