ERYTHEMA NODOSUM

To the Editor:—  The recent editorial on erythema nodosum (The Journal, January 14, p. 147) should receive wide attention from the medical profession. There are at least three reasons why this subject has an importance beyond the theoretical implications: First, those who regard the condition as essentially tuberculous—Wallgren for example—have intimated, as a logical outcome of their observations, that patients afflicted with erythema nodosum may be possible sources of the spread of tubercle bacilli to others; if this is true, then important epidemiologic considerations arise in the care and isolation of these patients. Second, assuming that there is a rheumatic variety of erythema nodosum, then the possibility of subsequent serious cardiac disease must inevitably loom large in such cases. Third, if either of these views is correct, then patients with erythema nodosum could not be granted insurance rates on the same basis as ordinary persons.I am a member of