The diseases of infancy and childhood : designed for the use of students and practitioners of medicine / by Henry Koplik.

  • Henry Koplik
Date:
1919,
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The diseases of infancy and childhood : designed for the use of students and practitioners of medicine / by Henry Koplik. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/990
    DISEASES OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD. SECTION I. INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD. Infancy.—Infancy, or the nursing age, is the period of life during which the child is at the breast. It extends from birth to the twelfth month. Childhood.—Childhood is the succeeding period, extending to puberty. It is customary to divide childhood into two periods—the first extending from the end of the first to the sixth or seventh year, or the beginning of the second dentition; the second, from this to puberty. The period of the newborn should include the first two months of life. Infections which have been contracted at birth manifest them¬ selves within this period. MORBIDITY. The Newborn Infant.—The diseases of the newborn are, mostly, septic in nature, and attack the infant within a short time after birth. Certain conditions present at this time of life favor the occurrence of disease. The skin, not fully formed, is in process of desquamation, and bacteria easily gain access to the circulation. The umbilicus is an open wound, receptive of infection. The mucous membranes of the intestine, mouth, eye, and ear are avenues for the entrance of bacteria. There is a tendency for minor infections to become general at this period. The artificially fed infant is, moreover, exposed to the dangers which necessarily accompany the introduction into the body of a foreign food with its attendant uncleanliness, and is also deprived of the protective bodies (alexins) contained in the mother’s milk. With new surroundings, in a new atmosphere, with new appli¬ ances for maintaining the body heat (such as clothes), and with careless handling, the newborn infant is peculiarly exposed to the inroads of disease. Childhood.—The study of the statistics of any large pediatric clinic will at once show that up to the tenth year of life those diseases which affect the respiratory apparatus form nearly two-fifths of the cases. Next in order of frequency are the diseases of the digestive tract; 2
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