To the Editor:—
The patient, a 7-month-old Montagnard girl, was brought to the emergency room of an army clearing station at Pleiku, Vietnam, on Aug 23, 1967. Eight days previously the patient had crawled onto the family fire and sustained a serious burn of the lower extremities. The local priest-doctor suggested that nothing be done since the child was going to die, whereupon the mother wrapped the child in burlap cloth, watched her, and continued to breast feed her. On the eighth postburn day a MEDCAP team of the 704th Maintenance Battalion, Pleiku, Vietnam, encountered the child on a routine mission and prevailed upon the mother to bring the baby in for treatment.Examination revealed a healthy appearing 15-lb, afebrile, well hydrated female child with thick black eschar over the anterior aspects of both lower extremities, on the left from the midthigh to the foot, and on the right from