HEALTH HINTS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7377, 1 February 1902, Page 4 (Supplement)

HEALTH HINTS.

THE TYPHOID SEASON.

• The typhoid season is again approaching, and some hints as to its prevention and treatment should be ready and carefully acted on. If the former are carefully observed the need for the latter will be in a large measure obviated. Dr; Andrew Wilson has an excellent article on the subject in Lloyds, from which we call the following: — Typhoid germs, he says, usually comes to us in polluted water, or infected milk. I mean by this, that the germs »f typhoid fever have gained access to the water or milk (in the latter case probably through dirty water being used in the dairy), or from other preceding cases of the fever. For let us rest assured lof the fact that we can never have this fever present without its germs as the cause, and these germs can only come from cases of typhoid fever that have preceded our own. This fever is also called enteric fever, and the long death roll in South Africa among our troops from this cause should give us a deeper interest in its prevention than we might otherwise possess or exhibit. The fever attacks the lining membrane of the small bowel; therefore, its germs are given off in thousands in the bowel-dis-charges of the patient. When these discharges, undisinfected, are allowed to escape into drains, and thence gain access to our water supplies, we readily see whence we derive our infection. Similarly, when we eat oysters which have been laid down in the sea in places where sewage from towns mingles with the water, we are liable to acquire typhoid fever, because the oysters have been proved to contain the- germs of the ailment. Also, it may be well to remark that typhoid germs are contained in the urine of patients," and there is, therefore, every need for the kidney secretion to be also disinfected.

This ailment is not "infectious" in the same way in which smallpox, scarlet fever, or diphtheria is '.'catching 1 ." But it is now beginnin gto be recognised that unless gTeat care is exercised in dealing with the bowel-discharges, and in disinfecting them at once, there may be risk of infection entailed upon those in attendance ion "the sick. Bedroom infection, in other words, though rare, is not unknown, and possibly living in a house whose drains are defective, exposes us to a like risk of inhaling the germs that may be given off with the sewer air.

It is young- people, or people at least under or about middle age, that mostly suffer from typhoid fever. A doctor the other day, speaking- at a medical congress, advised that only nurses of full or mature age shiould. be employed to attend on typhoid fever cases. The first symptoms indicate the onset of the disease. The germs having been swallowed, they do not immediately cause the symptome of the fever to develop. There is in all fevers what is called an "incubation period." This is sometimes a matter of a few hours, but in typhoid fever it usually amounts to fourteen days, but may extend to twenty one days. During this period the germs are incubating, breeding, and multiplying as it were, and preparing for their asault upon the patient. At this time the patient may be described as neither well nor ill. He has headache, is often sick, has a disinclination to work, is troubled with sleeplessness; and feels thoroughly out of sorts. Then comes the fever itself, but it is not till the seventh or eighth day, or even till the fourteenth day, after this that the rash appears. "When it does appear, it is to be looked for on the patient's stomach. There will be pain in the belly probably, with special tenderness below at the right side on pressure being made.

The rash shows us rose coloured spots, which, as a rule, fade in about three days and give place to another crop. The amount of the rash may be taken as a criterion of the severity of the disease. There is usually at first also some degree of constipation, but the characteristic diarrhoea soon begins, and in the second week of the fever is a highly characteristic symptom. The matter passed from the bowels is typical of this disease. Doctors describe the discharge as of a "pea soup" appearance, and this fact may be borne in mind as a feature of typhoid fever, far it is these discharges, teeming with germs, that require to be thoroughly disinfected by pure carbolic acid being poured on them. The temperature now is high, especially at night, and this night rise of the bodily heat is another feature of the disease which may be kept in mind. For three weeks the fever continues as a rule, leaving the patient utterly weak and exhausted, then during the fourth week improvement begins, and then convalescence, often a long and weary time, succeeds. There is no disease which weakens us perhaps s» thoroughly as typhoid fever, and which implies so long a period in the way of recovery. The home-aspects of this fever are summed up in two words — careful

nursing. The danger in this case is that of the bowel troubles causing the bowels to give way, in which case there will be bleeding with perforation of the intestines and death from peritonitis or internal inflammation. The feeding is of importance. The food will consist chiefly of milk, five or six pints in the day, with iced water occasionally to relieve the thirst. If any solid food be given to the patient before he is quite well death will probably result. Many patients are actually (killed in this way by friends giving then}, solid food for which they crave, even when they know it is absolutely forbidden by the doctor. . Let us remember that the sooner a patient takes to bed when typhoid threatens, the greater likelihood is there of his early recovery. Figures prove this fact completely. Finally, there is no possibility of typhoid being properly treated without medical attendance, if only for the reason that many complications are liable to ensue, and only a medical man can successfully combat them.