Volume 1

The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others].

Date:: 1908-1909

Credit: The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$Diphtheria Disinfection THE STANDARD PHYSICIAN within three to five davs. In the more \’irnlent types of the disease, the symp- toms are all increased in severity and are accompanied by high fever and general exhaustion. The poison developed in the body by the bacteria may also bring about severe damage to the heart, the pericardium, the lungs, the kidneys, and the nervous system ; and the disease may result fatally from interference with respiration, from pneumonia, cardiac weakiuiss, or from ])aralysis. Irven if this unfavouralde course is avoided, the ^recovery of the patient may be complicated by various sequelae which involve the heart, the lungs, or the kidneys. Or there may be paralyses of various kinds, affecting the muscles of the eyes, palate, larynx, chest, bladder, or rectum, including ])erha])s the entire arm or leg ; or there ma\’ be long-continued hoarseness, loss of \'oice, disturbances of speech, sciuinting, etc. The course of an attack of diphtheria varies with the age of the patient, the general condition of the system, and the severity of the epidemic. The mortality is greatest from infancy up to the fifth or sixth year, and then declines steadily until it is practically nothing in adult life. During the prevalence of an epi- demic of diphtheria, parents must keep close watch over their children. Fre- quent examination of the throat may lead to an early recognition of the disease, in many cases before any other symptoms have appeared. Fig. io6 Fig. io6. Method of holding patient in order illustrates the most Suitable manner of to look into the throat. holding a child for the purpose of ex- amining its throat. Any slight redness or swelling in the throat should serve as a warning, even before any membrane has appeared ; and a physician should be called at once, in order that appropriate treatment may be instituted and further dissemination of the disease prevented. If the diagnosis has been confirmed by the doctor, the patient must be isolated immediately, and the remaining children in the family kept under I close supervision. It is advisable to send children with diphtheria to a special hospital if suitable quarantine cannot be maintained at home. All articles used by the patient, or with which he comes in contact, should be either boiled for half an hour or soaked in some germicidal solution. The$