The infectivity and management of scarlet fever / by W.T. Gordon Pugh.

  • Pugh, William Thomas Gordon, 1872-1945.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The infectivity and management of scarlet fever / by W.T. Gordon Pugh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    and it detailed certain experiments which he had ]>erformed witli a view to conferring immunity against scarlet fever. He had taken mucus from the throat of a mild case of this disease, and, mixing it with carbolic acid (l-(>dO), had injected it subcutaneously into ten children. In all ca.ses, after an in- cubation period of 12 to 72 hours, scarlatina of undiminished severity followed, and Dr. Stickler therefore abandoned his experiments. The part the throat plays in the ditTusion of infection in the late stages of the disease is uncertain. Dr. Mervyn (iordon* suggests that it is a more frecpient cause of retuiFi cases than has been generally imagined. He believes that, in addition to infective mateiial being transmitted directly by kissing, or indirectly by being de])osited on cu])s, towels, &c., there is a po.ssibility of airborne infection occurring indoors from the dissemination of droplets of Fuoisture from the mouth in talking, sneezing, and coughing. That mucus from the throat may be disseminated in coughing and sneezing cannot be doubted, and it is interesting to note that Professor Simpson found, among probable infecting cases, 15 with colds in the head, and 5 with colds in the chest, a fact which em])hasises the in'])ortance of pre- venting chills after release from isolation, and of di.spensing with the hot bath immediately before discharge. Hut I should legard it as unlikely that in the convalescent stage theie is much danger of distribution by talking of those pathogenic organisms whose habitat is the throat. Any fluid which may be s])rayed in the act of talking, comes from the neighbourhood of the incisor teeth, and, as there is a con- stant flow of saliva backwards to the ])harynx, it must be only occasionally that in this stage such fluid contains bacteria derived from the fauces. The Nose.—Rhinitis is a common and very ini])ortant complication. The great facility this affection offers in young children for a wides])read diffusion of infection, when the discharge contains the infective agent, is sufficiently appa- rent. It is often most intractable to treatment, and the knowledge that it is frecpiently associated with return cases leads to its being the main cause of prolonged detention of patients in hos])ital. Every endeavour is made that a patient shall leave free from nasal affection, though there can be no doubt that the condition often relaj)scs within a short time of the child reaching home. It not infrequently is first noticed after the patient has been discharged.