Sick nursing / by H. Drinkwater.

  • Drinkwater, H. (Harry), 1855-1925
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Sick nursing / by H. Drinkwater. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    though he may complain of feeling cold and shivery, it will ibe found two or three degrees above normal, say perhaps 101°. There is headache. The pulse is quicker than normal. The skin is dry, the tongue foul. Appetite is lost. There is thirst. The patient continues practically in the same state for four days, and then on the fifth day another and very special sign appears, namely, a rash on the skin. The coming out of the rash marks the beginning of another stage. 1 From the beginning of fever to the appearance of the rash I—four days—is called the “ stage of outset,” or invasion. The appearance of the rash—which is also called eruption—marks the beginning of the “eruptive stage.” At I the beginning of this stage sometimes, but more frequently during an early part of the stage of outset, the patient has a severe shiver. This shivering fit is termed a “ rigor. It is to be specially noted that at this moment the patient is hotter than natural, /.<?., his temperature is raised although he feels cold. This rigor can be recognised easily enough in f older children and adults who can say what they feel. In young I children it is often mistaken for a convulsion. It lasts a few I minutes, or may come on at intervals for an hour or two. ' The pulse gets quicker, perhaps 120 to 140 in a child where I its usual rate is 100. The rash is a reddish purple, and first is seen on the sides I of the neck and face, though if sought for, it may be detected ■still earlier, in many cases, on the back. It occurs in irregular shaped patches about the size of a split pea. The cough, loss of appetite, and thirst, still continue. This stage lasts six days, by which time the rash has faded, and, in a favourable case, the temperature falls again to normal. Complications are diseases—generally inflammations—of various organs that occur sometimes in the course of a fever, but are not an essential feature of the fever itself. It is during this eruptive stage that complications are apt to make their appearance. B
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