'School ophthalmia' : a paper read before the Association on February 25th, 1897 / by Sydney Stephenson.

  • Stephenson, Sydney, 1862-1923
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: 'School ophthalmia' : a paper read before the Association on February 25th, 1897 / by Sydney Stephenson. 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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    Jn severe catarrhal oi)htlialmIa the short bacilli occur in f^reat miinhers after the lapse of the lirst <lay ; I have seen cases of this sort where scarcely a leucocyte in the specimen was free from one or more or'^anisms. In mihl types of disease, on the other hand, they may he so scanty that a careful search has to he imnle to lind a siiij^le one. Here, as elsewhere, negative results })ossess merely a negative value, and do not exclude the existence of a slight or commencing catarrhal ophthalmia. The pathogenic organisms become progressively fewer and fewer with sub- sidence of the disease, but, in my experience, persist to some extent so long as discharge is given off by the con- junctiva. There are two types of acute conjunctivitis in which I have found the short bacillus : — (a) Classical catarrhal ophthalmia, the leading features of which are great and rapid infectivity, })rofuse yellowish- white discharge, more or less cedema of the lids, and a bloodshot eyeball, with or without Innemorrhagic ])atches. The bacilli appear to be constantly present in this, the commonest, tyi)e of disease. (h) A variety in which follicular enlargement is super- added to the signs of acute or suh-acute inllaramation. The small growths that mark the condition occur chietly upon the lower lids, are round or cval, disposed in one or more rows, and better marked towards the outer canthus. The upper lids, as a rule, show little change, being merely congested or slightly roughened by tiny elevations. The outbreak recently recorded by Hr. Simeon Snell as having occurred in a good-class school at York was almost certainly of this kind. So far as my experience goes, it is the most common type of acute ophthalmia met with in well-managed schools of the u})per and middle class. Its main interest to us this afternoon lies in the likelihood of its being mistaken for the far more serious condition. Trachoma, to which we may next turn. (d) Acutr TnicJi'>in<(.— d’his formiihible atlection, so far as I know,.is nowatlays met with only in crowded Poor For list of llcfereiicos, bcc page liS, /><>*/.