[Fourth] annual report of the secretary of the State Board of Health of the State of Michigan, for the fiscal year ending Sept 30, 1876.

  • Michigan (State). Board of Health.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Fourth] annual report of the secretary of the State Board of Health of the State of Michigan, for the fiscal year ending Sept 30, 1876. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    IJoctoi IS called upon to prescribe for cases of sore thrmV v/t- simply a passing notice, from one or two of my corXomw't^^^ft^^^^^ ^:^ri!t ^^^^ ^^ro^^^^^SZ But little need be said of the summer. June is pre-eminently the healthv mnnth of tlie year. Then the good doctor makes his garden, atteS the meeti,^^^^^ raedica assoc ations, and prepares himself generally for thrwratlVtrSmf Later one gets gen le warning of coming events. As wai-m days aJe fo iowed bv ^ changes to co d, we meet occasionally a perfect avalanche of diarrhea We somet^^^^^^ see a sun stroke when a drop too much or an imprudent dinner trns the table on him who walks boldly under the vertical sun. Chills and bilioivs fe;i appear X after the fourth and are so easily cured that the doctor begins to thinkhe has learned just how ta do It A flattering illusion to be rudely dissiplted when hif bilfousTaXs into continued fever and his chills return every seven or fourteen days w th com- pound interest. In malaria the first come are the best served, and woe be to the eleventh hour patients. If the summer is healthy, no less pre-eminently is the autumn the sickly season and this remark is true not only of Berrien county, but of Xew England and every part of the Union which I have visited. Then w^e begin to talk about the marshes and the green scum on water as if water were hardly fit for navigation purposes while the average Bostonian goes crazy on the subject of drainage, cess-pools and wells within sight of a vault. In spite of all this tirade, the worst cases of dysentery and typhoid fever I ever saw were in New England at a season when the ground was baked to an unknown depth, and every drop of water used in the family was drawn from a rapid stream a half mile distant and ICO feet below. I classify the more generally prevailing endemic diseases of the county as follows, and in frequency, in the order in which they are written: ul?t«Mm?i—Intermittent fever, remittent fever, diarrhea, dysentery, typho-malarial. ■pFiJiZe/'—Bronchitis, diphtheria, pneumonia, pleuritis, remittent fever, intermittent fever, rheumatism, typho-malarial fever. /SJ^n'ji^—Bronchitis, pneumonia, diphtheria, intermittent fever, remittent fever, rheu- matism. COKTAGIOtra DISEASES AND EPIDEMICS. Among the contagious diseases worthy of mention, the following have had a wide- spread prevalence : Mumps, measles, whooping-cough, scarlet fever. Well defined epidemics are reported of mumps and erysipelas; a few cases of cere- bro-spinal meningitis are reported. No case of variola has been mentioned. Mumps of a very severe type prevailed during the winter and spring. The large percentage of metastasis is everywhere spoken of. As I have heard of no case of accident or death, although viewed by the people with the greatest alarm, I conclude that Prof. Flint is right in pronouncing it a trifling complaint. Erysipelas, Epidemic of.—Erysipelas is reported everywhere [in Berrien county], and epidemic in the south west. The following account from the practice of Dr. Dunning, of New Troy, is peculiar and interesting, and I cannot do better than give it in the Doctor's own words. There was quite a difference in the symptoms of dif- ferent cases, but they may be arranged properly by separating into two classes, viz.: 1st. Those cases in which erysipelatous inflammation chiefly in the throat and face; 2d. Cases in which the erysipelas was located or manifested itself at other points. There was a striking similaritv in the symptoms and course of all cases coming under the first class. The patient complained for about 24 hours of pain in head and back, and great uneasiness. At the end of this time there was a well marked chill, with nausea and sometimes vomiting, and a difficulty in breathing. The patient com- plained of pain in the throat from the commencement of the chill. In some instances the throat had been sore before; but usually it had not been noticed until this time. The chill was followed by fever which was not very intense, though the patient was delirious from the commencement. The throat, if examined early, was found to be very much swollen. The swelling was confined usually, at first, to the ])harynx and tonsils, but gradually extended until tlie whole mucous membrane of the mouth and throat was involved. The course which the inflammation now took was peculiar. It extended up the posterior nares, along the schneiderian mem-