Remarks on the etiology of sunstroke (siriasis) : not heat fever, but an infectious disease / by L. Westenra Sambon.

  • Sambon, Louis Westenra, 1865-1931.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the etiology of sunstroke (siriasis) : not heat fever, but an infectious disease / by L. Westenra Sambon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    connection with the hottest season does not necessarily imply a connection with the highest temperature. Indeed, it has often been observed that the hottest days and the hottest years are not those in which the disease especially occurs, and again it is not always found in the warmest regions. In its Indian habitat, siriasis is usually expected to appear when for several days in succession the temperature has reached 96° F. and the air is still. But it has prevailed at much lower temperatures, while it is unknown in places with temperatures of 1200 to 130° F. In the United States it becomes imminent during the summer in temperatures varying between 740 and 90° F. In August, 1896, it was noticed that siriasis prevailed in Boston when the average temperature of the day reached S20, but in New Orleans, with the same temperature, that year there was no siriasis (Phillips). Moisture.—Opinion varies considerably on the importance of moisture as a factor in the prevalence of siriasis. Some authors hold that much atmospheric moisture is essential to its occurrence, because of the fact that a damp atmosphere diminishes tolerance to high temperatures, but this is an a priori argument, founded on the supposition that heat is the primary cause of siriasis, and is contrary to all experi- ence. In India siriasis is mostly prevalent in May and the first part of June when the atmosphere is hot and dry. It ceases during the rains, and appears again, though to a less extent, in September and October, when the air is loaded with moisture. In North America, in 1896, the disease occurred in the valley of the Mississippi, with a relative humidity above the average, but on the Atlantic coast with a relative humidity decidedly below the average. And, although the absolute humidity was greatest during the maximum of siri- asis, yet its variations did not appear to influence the number of cases. The amount of moisture in the subsoil is of muoh more importance than the hygrometric condition of the atmo- sphere, and we know for certain that the disease always ceases after a heavy rainfall, even though the temperature return to its previous height. Wind.—Many facts are on record which seem to indicate that the disease may be carried by the wind, and the Hindus call it “ Loo-mamawhich means hot-wind stroke. Brunei writes that the malady is prevalent in the River Plate States even in spring, when the hot and damp north or north-east winds blow from the plains of Brazil. Lindesay says that siriasis appeared in Chunar, Centra] India, in 1833. when a burning hot wind set in suddenly from the west after a long spell of east winds, and that it ceased when the wind blew again from the east. Mouat observed it among British troops on the march from Calcutta to Berhampore, on the sudden setting in of an excessively hot wind; and likewise McGregor, in 1830, saw it in Kampi appear and disappear with the wind. Predisposing Causes. Age.—Siriasis attacks all ages. Children are quite as susceptible to it as adults, but the disease has often remained unrecognised, being mistaken for cholera infantum, enteritis, etc. One of the earliest recorded cases was that of the child of the Shunamite woman (2 Kings iv, 18 21). In the out- breaks of 1872 and 1892 in the United States children suffered severely. Hex— Siriasis, like tetanus, cerebro-spinal fever, and other similar diseases, is far more common in men than women owing to greater exposure. Amongst children, the number of males and females is about equal.