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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    The commonest complication in measles is inflammation of the lungs, and this is what causes death in most instances where measles proves fatal. The next stage is that of “ Decline'^ or “ Defervescence. The cough and other symptoms disappear, the appetite returns and the normal functions of the body begin to be again performed. The special feature of this stage is the commencement of Desquamation or peeling of the skin. The surface comes away in the form of scales like fine bran. If the temperature has not already become normal it soon does so. This stage lasts a few days and is followed by that of Convalescence : during which the patient is gradually re- stored to health. Do those four stages constitute the whole course of the disease ? No. Fevers are due to the entrance into and multiplication within the body, of living germs, extremely minute specks that increase with enormous rapidity, and in their growth produce substances that act as poison to the various tissues of the body and the blood. When measles germs enter, they manifest no discoverable sign of their presence until after ten days, when the stage of invasion shows itself. These ten days constitute the stage of incubation^ which means hatching. The growth and multiplication of germs within the body bears some resemblance to the process of fermentation, as occurring in dough (flour, water and salt) when yeast is added to it. Yeast consists essentially of living germs. It pro- duces carbon dioxide and alcohol in the dough, two poisonous substances which correspond to the poisonous substances produced by disease germs in the human body. When a child contracts measles from another child which it has come into contact with, say on the first of the month, for ten days there will be no sign of anything wrong, but on the tenth day it will feel chilly and commence to cough. Four days later the rash will appear. The rash in measles, therefore, comes out fourteen days after the child has got the infection.
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