Genito-urinary and venereal diseases : A manual for students and practitioners / By Louis E. Schmidt.

  • Schmidt, Louis E.
Date:
[1902], [©1902]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Genito-urinary and venereal diseases : A manual for students and practitioners / By Louis E. Schmidt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    diagnosis of an initial lesion is certain, general treatment, often called preventive treatment, is instituted. It is quite ])ositively known, however, that it will not prevent, in the course of time, the appearance of symptoms. In some respects it appears rational to attempt to destroy by general treatment the further ingress into the system of the virus, yet experience in a large number of cases has shown that it is advisable to ivait for the roseola to appear. In doing so we neither endanger the patient in any way nor interfere with the results of the treatment which is to follow. In regard to the length of time required for treatment, again no definite answer can be given. Duration of Treatment.—Some cases may require but fairly mild treatment for three or four years in order to avoid any further sign or symptom. Again, others may require ener- getic and uninterrupted attention for twice that number of years. So long as any evidences persist the treatment should continue, and for one-half as long again. It can, however, be stated that the course of the disease, whether or not vital organs are aflPected, the character and the course of the lesions, influence the mode and the duration of the systemic treatment. Medicinal Treatment.—This consists of the imbibition, by the mouth, of remedies—the so-called internal treatment; or applied externally—the external trecdment. Besides these, there are certain other methods. The tonic treat- ment consists of establishing for each individual a maximum dosage of certain drugs which give effective results, and then to continue constantly for months or even years. The symptomatic or expectant plan consists in waiting for the appearance of symptoms and then treating accordingly. This method must be condemned in the strongest terms. The interrupted jjlan follows a more or less definite plan of treatment, covering a period of years. External or internal treatment, followed by varying periods of rest, with the pur- pose of allowing time for the mercury to be eliminated, the entire time covering some years, is what is also termed the chronic intermittent form of treatment. Mercury in some form, and given in a definite manner, is