Some account of the last yellow fever epidemic of British Guiana / by Daniel Blair, surgeon general of British Guiana ; edited by John Davy, inspector general of army hospitals, etc.

  • Blair, Daniel.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some account of the last yellow fever epidemic of British Guiana / by Daniel Blair, surgeon general of British Guiana ; edited by John Davy, inspector general of army hospitals, etc. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    clisease, however, was frequently baffled, and returned; and the liability to a return was in proportion to the mildness or short- ness of the previous attack. Relapses and exacerbations, how- ever (even after the characteristic symptoms of the gravior type), were not rare, but generally occurred close after the period of convalescence. The following are examples : — Case 44:. Admitted 5th February, 1839 with scald: attacked with yellow fever on the 9th, is convalescent on the 2l8t, an exacerbation on 25th, intense febrile excitement (probably aggravated by mosquitos) up to the 10th March, when black vomit occurs, and the patient sinks on the 12th. 160. Admitted with yellow fever, 8th May, 1839, the day of attack; is convalescent; has a relapse on the 19th, of which be dies on the 23rd. 199. Admitted on 10th May, 1839, convalescent on 17th; relapse on 21st, again convalesces on 23rd. 292. Admitted on the 6th August, 1839, about the third day of fever, convalesces; and is discharged on the 9th; readmitted on 13th August, the day of attack, and dies on the 15th. 296. Admitted on the 12th August, third day of the fever; dis- charged convalescent on 14th ; returns on 16th, and is again discharged convalescent on 17th. 325. Admitted 6th September, 1839, about the sixth day of disease; is pronounced convalescent on the 8th, suffers relapse on the 12th, and has black vomit, and dies on the 16th. 342. Admitted 10th Sept., third day of fever; is convalescent on 13th; has a relapse on the 19th; skin becomes tinged on the 20th; has black vomit on the 22nd; and dies on the 23rd. 355. Admitted 13th Sept., on the second day of the fever; has was epidemic there, in 1830-31, 91 cases of second attacks were recorded; the total number of all cases of the disease was 8,067, and the total of fatal cases, 1,172. (See returns on the subject in my work, Notes and Ob- servations on the Ionian Islands and Malta.) A well-authenticated instance of the occurrence of small-pox eleven different times in the same individual has been mentioned to me by a general officer, lately deceased. His mo- ther was the subject. She first had small-pox by inoculation; afterwards she caught it from her children ; all the attacks were smart, and the last not less BO than the first. If admitted, as seems just and fully warranted, that a second attack of yellow fever is rare, the propriety of employing as nurses those who have been once attacked is obvious, and this apart from all considerations about contagion, inasmuch as the duty is arduous, and, from the fatigue induced and broken rest, the disposition to contract the disease, if within the limits of the exciting cause, is augmented.] — En.