HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3030, 10 April 1912, Page 76

HEALTH COLUMN.

Diphtheria. The name of this disease describes pretty accurately the most noteworthy fact about it —namely, the formation ot membrane on the mucous membrane of the throat. It is very contagious, the' infectious matter being capable of diffusion in the air, but it is most dangerous to those who inhale the patient's breath, or who come in close contact with the sufferer. The disease begins, like so many others, with a feeling of general depression and feverishness; there is what seems like a cold in the head, hoarseness, slight difficulty of swallowing, a feeling of stiffness of the neck, and swelling of the glands about the throat. The appearance of these symptoms is quite enough to warrant the sending for the doctor, who will be, better able to decide whether or no diphtheria is really present. If it is, white patches will appear on the tonsils and the back of the throat. Should the disease be only suspected, the patient should at once be isojated and kept in bed, only one person acting as attendant. Have" a fire lighted, and keep the window open at the top two or more inches day and night. Dissolve as much chlorate of potash in a tumbler of water as the water will take up, and let the patient use it freely as a gargle. Milk with tho white of an egg beaten up in each halfpint shouid be given, and also some good beef-tea. These measures will relieve the sore throat should it prove not to be diphtheria, and if the worst fears are confirmed, all that is possible without medical aid will have been done. —Carry Out Instructions. — An American physician has written some useful instructions, couched in the simplest language. " From the moment that you receive tho doctor's orders in a case of diphtheria carry them out as if life depended on you alone. Never relax your efforts to give medicine, food, and stimulants, no matter how hopeless the attempt seems to you, and do not be betrayed into carelessness by what you think an abatement of the symptoms." Every precaution must be used against the spread of the contagion. Discharges from the mouth should be cleared awav as quickly as possible with pieces of soft rag or cotton wool, which must be burnt at once; or, if there is no fire in the room, put in a covered pail with an ounce of chloride of. lime to a gallon of water. Here they may remain till they can bo taken out and burnt. Wash the patient's lips and chin now and then with a solution of tho chlorate of potash, and keep them greased with a little vaseline to prevent the skin from breaking, as the membrane is liable to form wherever the skin breaks.

Ingrowing- Toe-nail. When this condition is merely threatening:, and pain occurs at the edge of the biy toenail, the nail must he cut afresh and cut often —with a deep curve down into tho central part of the nail, leaving tly; outer and inner corners comparatively high (or long)—and tho back of the nail may be scraped thin with a, knife or piece of class or a file. The feet should be washed often, and carbolic soap used for the operation. After washing, the fleshy edges should bo gently drawn out and the nail-edge freed with tho fingers. In cases where a sore has developed, it becomes necessary, in addition, to cut the nail-edge away with a sharp knifo or small scissors, and, holding the skin back, to pack the space (and beneath tho offending edge of nail) with a few threads of lint soaked in a solution of boracic acid (half a teaspoonful to half a teacupful of hot water), and covering this with erutta percha tissue or its cheaper vegetable substitute, apply a turn or two of narrow bandage over a thin layer of cotton wool. This dressing should be repeated daily, the feet being washed first, and the affected 100 thoroughly soaked with the boracic solution, until all rawness and tenderness have disappeared, when a dry dressing on the same lines—lint shreds, cotton woof, and bandage, but no boracic acid —may be substituted for a few days before abandoning treatment. Epidemic Diseases. According to their manner of dissemination among the people of a country, diseases

I are classified as sporadic, endemic, or ep:< demic. When a disease occurs in an iso- } labed and scattered manner, as does bron- ! chitis or Blight's disease, it is spoken of ]as sporadic. Other diseases, such as ague, I are peculiar to certain districts, and in I those districts continually attack large numi bors of people. A third class of diseases , consists of those which attack large numbers , of people and spread rapidly among them. i Such diseases are spoken of as epidemic. In this class are included smallpox, scarlet I fever, measles, diphtheria, enteric fever, ■and many others. As a general rule it is j infectious diseases that occur in epidemic, the disease spreading from one person to another by direct contagion. . Contagion, | however, is by no means the only way in I which epidemic diseases are spread. The ! common water supply or milk supply may I be contaminated, as is commonly the case in enteric fever, and in other cases certain j climatic conditions may be the cause of an extensive epidemic. Various epidemics of the same disease differ much in severity. Sometimes all or the majority of the cases assume a mild form; at other times a large proportion of the cases may be serious or even fatal. With the progress of hygiene most of the epidemic diseases are being I steadily overcome, and there seems no reason why in the future epidemics, as wo understand them may not have , completely disappeared.

Appendicitis Operations Claimed to be Seedless. Dr Doyen has just told the Congress of Surgery, recently held in Paris, that the majority of cases of appendicitis do not need a surgical operation, and that most appendicitis patients who are operated on suffer from after effects. Dr Doyen treats such a patient by injections of mycolysine into the inflamed appendix. He declares this new agent cures the inflammation of the appendix when it does not contain a foreign body, which has caused the inflammation. VVhen an operation is absolutely necessary in appendicitis Dr Doyen uses what he calls the onlv method that offer 3 the best chances of success; he crushes the appendix, which is only a useless, blind pouch, and ties the intestine with a double suture, like a nurse-string, which he invented a dozen years ago. Dr Doyen affirms he has discovered how to vaccinate the peritoneum—(tho membrane that holds the intestines) —against inflammation—that is, against peritonitis. He injects into the peritoneum 10 cubic centimetres of mycolysine 24 hours before a surgical operation which may involve it. He says by employing this method he has performed grave abdominal operations without provoking peritonitis. It is interesting to note that the other surgeons at the congress complain that operations are a failure, because the patients delay coming to them. —Science Siftings.

Drinks Between Meals. A meeting of doctors and city men was recently held &t the Mansion House to discuss the subject of "Alcohol and Adolescence in Relation to Business Life." Sir Thomas Barlow, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said there was a striking diminution of the drink habit in al! civil employments, and it was rapidly becoming less imperative for a man who wished to obtain an order or to complete a bargain, to give free drinks. Everything should be done to induce young men to refrain from taking alcohol between meals, for the habit had an injurious effect on the stomach cells and on the veins, producing sometimes chronic catarrh of the throat. Another danger was pointed out by Sir Thomas Clouston, ex-president of tho Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, who said that there were few families which had not some latent hereditary weakness of the nerves, and if any man with such hereditary nerve weakness took alcohol before he was 25 years of age ho did so at the peril of his reason. "No man." concluded the speaker, "should take alcohol till his beard has grown, and after ir, has grown he should refrain from drinking till he is 25, and be precious careful about taking it afterwards."