Variola, vaccination, varicella, cholera, erysipelas, whooping cough, hay fever / by H. Immermann [and others] ; edited with additions by John W. Moore ; authorized translation from the German, under the editorial supervision of Alfred Stengel.
- Immermann, H.
- Date:
- 1902
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Variola, vaccination, varicella, cholera, erysipelas, whooping cough, hay fever / by H. Immermann [and others] ; edited with additions by John W. Moore ; authorized translation from the German, under the editorial supervision of Alfred Stengel. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![tlie time wlicn, on the face and head, desiccation has quite unmistakably taken place. Far more rarely we may observe in variola vera a prema- ture retrogression of the phenomena in the parts later attacked, so that the desiccation and also the decrustation begin more nearly simultan- eously over the whole body. When this occurs, as it does now and then in individual cases, the duration of the period of involution, which otherwise is usually long (two weeks and over), is correspondingly shortened. In certain regions we recognize the retrogression first by the abate- ment of the inflammatory edema, the diminution of the diffuse redness and swelling, and the disappearance of the areola. With this, the fea- tures of the patient, which up to this time have been extremely disfig- ured, regain more and more their normal outlines ; the same may be said of other ])arts of the body which have been especially affected (as the hands and feet). At times the appearance and condition of the pus scabs and of the still uninjured pocks over the skin change. Fii’st, in consequence of drying, they lose their honey-like color and their greasy softness, become brownish, hard, and brittle, and continuously shrink more and more toward their base, to which they in a short time become adherent. Later on the pustules which remain intact soon become of a distinct brownish color, lose in so doing their hemispheric outline as well as their smooth surface, and shrink finally to hard, dark brown, and generally somewhat rough, ill-shaped forms. As such they, as a rule, cling firmly to the skin somewhat longer than the scabs already described before they are cast off (compare later). With the cessation of the inflammation tlie local inflammatory pain in the skin (caused by pressure, etc.) also ceases, in most cases quickly. Luring desiccation a very unwelcome addition to the recovery is that of an unendurable itching in the affected parts, inviting scratching, which, by causing new injury, may easily interrupt the regular involution of the exanthem. The condition of the patient becomes more and more endurable, as, with the abatement of the edema, the eyes ean be opened ag-ain, the nose perfoi’ins its functions in some measure, the lips can be used, and the rest of the body can be moved without the severe pains wliich have been so distressing. The relative well-being of the patient is markedly inereased by a considerable abatement of the painful symp- toms connected with the mucous mejnbrane, and finally a cessation of the fever and of the general disturbances takes place. As in the region of tlie cutis, tlie improvement makes successive ad vances ; the buccal, nasal, and pharyngeal phenomena of inflammation disapjicar, and likewise all other expressions of the variolous affection ii—](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29012090_0075.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
