Two cases of post-typhoid anæmia : with remarks on the value of examinations of the blood in typhoid fever / by W.S. Thayer.

  • Thayer, William Sydney, 1864-1932.
Date:
[1894?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Two cases of post-typhoid anæmia : with remarks on the value of examinations of the blood in typhoid fever / by W.S. Thayer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    concentration of the blood. During the first weeks the number of corpuscles, with some fluctuation, falls gradually, but usually to a relatively slight extent. With defervescence there is, however, a more rapid fall in the number of red corpuscles, continuing often into and reaching its lowest point usually about the first week of convalescence. Recovery from this ansemia is generally rather gradual. From cases in Prof. Osier's clinic, where careful blood- counts* were made during the fever, the following table may be made: First week. Second week. Third week. Fourth week. Fifth week. Sixth week. 2 counts 10 counts 9 counts 6 counts 7 counts 4 counts 5,636,000 4,960,599 4,951,535 4,038,333 3,856,786 4,364,250 The counts made after this show a gradual increase, but are too scattering to classify. The averages in these few instances are somewhat low because of the inclusion of the two severe cases above recorded. Ordinarily, the fall in the number of red corpuscles is relatively slight, and as a rule bears a direct relation to the severity of the case, but at times a grave ansemia may follow an apparently mild case of the disease, as shown in Case II. The anaemia may be severe enough to form of itself a dangerous complication of the process. Haemoglobin. The haemoglobin falls always with the red corpus- cles ; the loss, however, is relatively greater than the corpuscular loss, and the return of the curve to normal is further delayed. The observations which I have recorded in thirteen cases are not numer- ous enough to make a table of any value. They agree, however, entirely with the preceding statement. Leucocytes. The number of leucocytes in the cubic millimetre at the beginning of the fever is about normal, but tends throughout the course to diminish, reaching its lowest point toward the end of defer- vescence. With the beginning of convalescence begins the return to normal, which may last several weeks. This gradual fall is well shown in the following table taken from over 200 counts made by Dr. J. S. Billings, Jr., and myself :f First week. Second week. Third week. Fourth week. Fifth week. Sixth week. 22 counts 50 counts 41 counts 28 counts 16 counts 5 counts 7,212 6,468 6,351 5,877 6,621 7,000 * I am indebted to Dr. J. S. Billings, Jr., for several of these counts. •(-All counts made directly after baths were omitted.