Syphilis in obstetrics / by William J. Gow.

  • Gow, William J.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Syphilis in obstetrics / by William J. Gow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/134 page 375
    The Blood. The changes in the blood have not been fully investigated. There is a lymphocytosis, and, as already men- tioned, the red corpuscles and haemoglobin are both deficient (vol. i, p. 125). The Bones. A condition known as syphilitic osteochondritis is very characteristic of the disease in the foetus. When a long bone is examined in section a broad yellow line is seen running across it at the point where the diaphysis and epiphysis join. Thus the shaft of the bone is sharply separated from the cartilage of the epiphysis by a layer of tissue which appears yellow in section. This yellow line is due to caseous or fatty degeneration taking place in the cells formed at this point, and as a result separation of the epiphysis may occur (see also vol. i, pp. 335-6). Treatment of Syphilis during Pregnancy Treatment. If a woman at the time of conception is suffering from primary or secondary syphilis, or if she becomes infected at the onset of pregnancy or during her pregnancy, she requires active treatment just like any other patient who is suffering from the disease ; but in this case the treatment is called for not only for her own sake but also for the sake of the child in utero. As syphilis, especially in pregnant women, is often attended with anaemia, this condition should also be treated, if present, by the administration of iron and arsenic in addition to mercury. Mercury may be administered by the mouth, by inunction, or by intramuscular injection. If the woman has no symptoms of syphilis, but gives a history of having had the disease at some previous time, it is gener- ally advisable to give mercury during some part, if not the whole period of pregnancy. The object of treatment in such a case is to prevent the infection being transmitted from the mother to the foetus. Whether the infection is stored up in the ovaries or elsewhere, there is no doubt of her power to infect the foetus long after the original attack of S3q>hilis has occurred, and this quite apart from whether the disease took a mild or severe form. Unless there is good evidence to show that the patient has under- gone an efficient course of treatment at the time of the original infection it is well to administer merctiry in the form of liq.
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