MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11843, 21 December 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

BLOOD-POISONING. the widest acceptation of the term- blood- : a poisoning occurs in all infectious ! diseases* , ;• in Bright's disease; biliousness, malaria, and; - any other trouble affecting the general sya-i* tern. But, as usually understood, it means; poisoning by pus microbes or their products*! conditions medically known' as pytemia ori " ' *> tepticcemin. ■ A quarter of a century ago these diseases yfere very common, especially in hospitals,,, and were often the cause of frightful mortality among the wounded in battle; bub ~ now they are becoming more and more rare,; and many physicians of several years' practice, have never seen a well-marked case. ' , This happy change is the result of -thai general adoption of the principles of antisep-j tie surgery, whereby septic infection of i wounds and consequent extensive suppura-j " ■ tion lire prevented. But blood-poisoning still) occurs at times after wounds made with in-' fected; objects, or wounds which have been! allowed to fester without proper treatment.". Physicians occasionally get blood-poison-, ing in consequence of a slight cut or scratch! received' while performing an autopsy after a ca.se of appendicitis or other suppurative. 1 disease. \ In cases in which death follows ant' operation for appendicitis the cause is frequently septicaemia or pyjemia, the operation! having been undertaken too late to prevent 1 , , the absorption of septic material. • 1 The symptoms of blood-poisoning are those! of profound* depression of the general system,; but the symptoms of 1 the two varieties of blood-poisoning differ more or less. ; 1 ' J . Septicemia usually begins abruptly with a chill and high fever. The pulse is,quick and weak, the breathing is rapid, and some-! times oppressed, headache is usually , severe, v the appetite is lost, and there is nausea with vomiting. v _ : ] . . ' ' In pyaemia these symptoms are mora; gradual in their appearance, and are : pre- i • I ceded for a day or two by slight fever, loss\ , of appetite, and general 'depression. There' is a succession of chills, high fever, and sweat-. ; ing, so that the case is sometimes mistaken,' I for malaria. Later all doubt is removed by ? the formation of abscesses in various parts of the body. Both forms of blood-poisoning are grave, but recovery is more apt to take place in septicemia. Treatment consists primarily in • 'if attention to the wound through which infection has occurred, which, if accessible, should be opened freely and thoroughly » drained. At the same time the system must < be supported by stimulants, heart tonics, ; .. and - nourishing and easily digestible food.-

PAIN IN THE BACK. Pain in the back is one of the commonest of • the ills afflicting humanity, and at the same ; time it is 'often one of the most.difficult to, realise, and the most puzzling to trace to its - origin. It is a symptom of many acute , diseases, such as spinal meningitis, smallpox, malaria, influenza, and so forth, but in such cases it is of short duration, 'and its. 1 "cause is usually evident. . ' The backache of gall-stone, renal colic, or simple stomach-ache is also an acute affair and disappears rapidly when the gall-stone' or kidney-stone is passed, or th'e flatulence relieved. '«§) : ,It is ; different, •. however, • with the chronic - form, which so often defies all the skill and ingenuity.; of the physician, and exhausts i the patience of the sufferer with its persist-1 ence and wearying, boring, wrenching pain.; The conditions which may produce this ,chronic backache are so numerous that a, mere catalogue of them would fill the space allotted to this article, and we, can refer only to the most frequent of them. l?he pain may be due to disease in the spine itself, in. the spinal cord, in the back muscles, or in the abdominal cavity. Pott's disease of the spine 'hunchback) and cancer of the. vertebras are the most usual affec-i . tions of the spine causing backache.- •' ! Any affection of,the spinal cord may find V its expression in backache, but the one most commonly responsible is, perhaps, locomo- •... tor ataxia. When of muscular origin pain.' >. .j in the back \is known as lumbago, a disease l which is generally regarded as ?. rheumatic.' "• - affection of the' back muscles. - ;■/' '. It is always well for the sufferer from a i persistent backauhe to consult a physician. V