Recovery from Diphtheria.

Otago Witness, Issue 2373, 24 August 1899, Page 56

Recovery from Diphtheria.

Soil and geological formation have something to do with the prevalence of diphtheria; it is especially common in damp valleys. The greater number of the persons attacked are between two and twelve years of age, and the liability is greatest between two and five years. Many attacks of diphtheria are accompanied by simple sore throat and tonsilitis, and many apparently simple attacks of of sore throat have really an infectious character. Some physicians look on diphtheria and ecarlet fever as modifications of the same disease, and the occurrence of both at the same time in the Bsme family seems at first sight to countenance this view. But the theory is disproved by the entire absence of diphtheria in several thoupand cases of scarlet fever treated in the London Fever Hospital. The probable explanation of the occurrence of both in the same family ;s; s that the condition of the throat in a family affected by scarlatina affords a soil favourable for the reception of the diphtheritic poisop. When diphtheria does occur in connection with scarlatina, it is almost always as a sequel to it. So, too, the sore throats due to bad hygienic surroundings and imperfect drainage furnish excellent soil for diphtheritic microbes. Many cases of diphtheria end unexpectedly in fatal heart-failure, sometimes when the patient has seemed in a fair way to recovery. In such cases a post-mortem examination reveals a fatty and granular degeneration of the muscular fibres of the heart.' This fact emphasises the need of prompt treatment to secure the speediest possible recovery. It follows, too, that in all cases, until complete recovery, everything should be avoided which makes demands on the heart, a verj slight effort being often fatal ; and that the physician should always make a careful examination of the heart, and idvi&e accordingly.