Plague / by B.L. Dhingra.

  • Dhingra, B. L.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Plague / by B.L. Dhingra. 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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    Varieties of plague—[1) Mild plague or Pestis minor; (2) Severe plague or Pestis major; (3) Pneumonic plague, •wliich killed Dr. Manser and the nurse who attended him. There is the usual fever^ hut instead of enlarged glands there is cough with expectoration. The sputum is thin and watery and contains the bacilli. It is very fatal, the patient dying in from two to four days; (4) Plague without buboes. This is not very common, and is rather difficult in diagnosis. Complications and Segueloe.—(1) Conjunctivitis and ulcer- ation of the cornea ; (2) Congestion of the lungs, which may go on to pneumonia; (3) Septicoemia; (4) Abscesses are very common ; (5) Diarrhoea; (6) Hemorrhages of all sorts. The chief sequeloe are anoemia, dysentery, insanity and paralysis. Diagnosis.—The sudden onset, high fever, painful en- largement of the glands, and restlessness, render the diagnosis easy. Pulmonary plague is difficult of diagnosis, except by bacteriological examination of the sputum. Malaria, enteric and remittent fever may be mistaken, if enlarged glands are not looked for, or if the glands are not enlarged. It is possible that an individual suffering from enlargement of glands due to syphilis, scrofula, or injury, and having some fever, may be mistaken for a plague case. Careful examination will invariably settle the diagnosis. Prognosis.—The mortality is about 90 per cent, when the the epidemic is at its height. Stout persons bear the disease much worse than thin persons. Pregnant women frequently die. If the temperature keeps high and nervous symptoms are prominent, the case is serious. Complicatious like septi- coemia must be carefully watched, as they are always serious. PATHOLOGY. The affected glands contain hemorrhages in their sub- stance, and are surrounded by blood, The tissues around are