The post-mortem diagnosis of yellow fever / by Harald Seidelin.

  • Seidelin, Harald.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The post-mortem diagnosis of yellow fever / by Harald Seidelin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE POST-MORTEM DIAGNOSIS OF YELLOW FEVER By HARALD SEIDELIN. When a case has been under observation for yellow fever and terminates fatally, the clinician is naturally anxious that the pathologist should share the responsibility of the diagnosis. The pathologist is in a somewhat difficult position, because there is a widespread opinion that he ought to give his decision with absolute certainty, while one is not surprised if a clinician admits that he is in doubt. In yellow fever it ought not to be so; the clinical diagnosis is, as a rule, easier than the post-mortem diagnosis considering that such a comparison can only be made in severe cases. In mild cases, where the clinical diagnosis encounters considerable difficulties, the anatomical diagnosis would probably be impossible if the opportunity of a post-mortem should be afforded through the accidental death, from some other cause, of a patient during a mild attack of yellow fever. The consideration of both clinical data and anatomical findings may, of course, give more certainty than the clinical observation alone; consequently a post-mortem examination should always be made whenever possible. Occasionally, the patients do not enter hospital until shortly before death; in such cases the clinical observation can hardly be sufficient, and autopsies will be the only means of diagnosis available. Essentially the same conditions obtain at the post-mortem as during clinical observation, not a single symptom is pathognomonic, and in neither case can we expect to find any infallible test other than the demonstration of the specific micro-organism. Considering this, we had to admit, when discussing the clinical diagnosis, that cases may occur, the nature of which cannot be proved beyond doubt to everybody concerned. Theoretically, the same conditions prevail at the post-mortem examination, but in practice the situation is less unfortunate because nearly all fatal cases are typical.
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