Arrest of cholera by dilute acid and sanitary observance ; Treatment of cholera outbreaks.

  • Henry MacCormac
Date:
1883
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Arrest of cholera by dilute acid and sanitary observance ; Treatment of cholera outbreaks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    AS Hospital Physician, some 3000 cases of Asiatic Cholera may 11 have passed through my hands. Like all plagues, cholera rages most among the poor. The poor, however, with efficient medical treatment, recover in a larger proportion than do the rich. ‘ Like fire, cholera once it gets headway, is hard to check.* Some, upon exposure, contract the malady at once, others are comparatively insusceptible. Persons, after coming in contact with cholera, may transmit the disease to others, remaining themselves intact-., .Akind- hearted merchant handed a- poor woman, turned out of her infected dwelling, a cordial draught! p. When I saw him. next day, he was cold and livid- Washerfv.dniem suffer .much. Once I found three lying lifeless in thfe- same-house.'] The/poor .things had neglected every precaution, land-.-tffius: perished unhideiff'aM Unseen::- •• : Strict ternperarate is expedient-' absbluiffely; '.■.B.hti ®.ftcemes are undesirable. '/Drifrknrgoivater, ought inVariably-iftovbti- laorled.-and filtered. It’may Beiquahfred with a fragment ^of high i'oas'ted bread, a pinch of t-ea: or. doffee to the gallon. All f6ulnbsEssh©uld>be,..can- sumed by-fi'reion biuried/deep in the soil. The air .df j-obihs/nbeds renewal ceaselessly! Tit ishvell to. hold the breath .when one common close contadt-with.the disease. • Some-food should impossible bd tffken before visiting t-he-sick. A weak .soltition- of sulpbat«Jofiiiroii'ought to be-poured--into-latrines daily, and soiled ffinem :ahd flannels'treated forthwith-with-cMorinei ’Cleanlinesf,-personal -and general, is indis- pensable. ' 1 • X. -fi . u’.r.t In 1832, the- ti-neture of opium, common laudanum, was advan- tageously employed, afterwards dilute sulphuric acid, in drachm or half drachm doses, was much and beneficially resorted to. The dilute acid is made sby adding! ten parts water to onesof strong acid. A common teaspoon holds-ffom half a drachm to a drachm. The dilute acid may be taken vin-.-a-littL plain or peppermint water, and-,: as thus, once or ofteneiy proves highly useful in arresting diar-rheaT n It occurred to megoii the principle oi.prhicipiis ohsta; that what was found to allay diarrhea might, if lalben bcforchcnkd} prevent both diarrhea and cholera. In an institution, to wjiich.l was visit- ing physician, Asiatic Clrolera broke otp:',! by: reascui.',some 'Hired workmen holding communication with .the-infected town.: .'Forty persons were attacked, and seventeen died presently.’ At once, I gave the dilute acid in drachm doses, to every member of the establish- ment. The malady was forthwith arrested. No other case ensued. The like acid regimen, coupled with daily house to house visitation and strict sanitary observances, would, I believe, give a good account of most cholera outbreaks and, during such, prove, as it certainly seemed to do in the instance I have cited, an approximately effective- barrier against preventible disease and death. * “ Principiis obsta, sero mcdicina paratur Cum mala per long as convalacre moms. HENRY MAC CORMAC, M.D., Consulting Physician to the Royal Hospital. Belfast, 16/// July, 1883.