The antitoxin treatment of diphtheria in the City of Glasgow fever hospital, Belvidere, during six and a half years / by John Brownlee.

  • Brownlee, John, 1868-1927.
Date:
[1902]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The antitoxin treatment of diphtheria in the City of Glasgow fever hospital, Belvidere, during six and a half years / by John Brownlee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    r* THE ANTITOXIN TREATMENT OF DIPHTHERIA IN THE CITY OF GLASGOW FEVER HOSPITAL, RELVIDERE, DURING SIX AND A HALF YEARS. M\ JOHN BKOWNLKK, M.A., M.l). D.IMI. Camii., Pliysiciim-Superiiitendent, City of Glasgow Fever ami Small-pox Hospitals, Helviilere. The use of antitoxin in the treatment of diphtheria has now been on its trial in this country for nearly seven years, and has been the chief method of treatment employed in thi.s hospital since the be^innin^ of 1895. A short rename oi the results attained will, therefore, be not without use, e.specially as no general synopsis of these results beyond the issue of the hospital statistics year by year has been published since Dr. Marsh’s paper in 189(5. The collective results are shown in Table I. This table consists of four divisions—the first showing the mortalities at different age-periods in the pre-antitoxin days, the second those in the last six and a half years, of all the cases treated in Belvidere. For the purposes of compari.son the corresponding figures taken fi-om the reports of the Metropolitan A.sylums’ Board, London, are also given. From the figures in these parallel columns the value of the remedy can easily be gauged, unless some other factor than antitoxin has been in progress at the same time. The mortality at all ages has been greatly lowered.^ It is to be noticed that the improvement becomes more marked as the age-period increases from 1 to 10. Thus, the death-rates at the age of 1 in the two periods are respectively 70’(5 per cent and 4(5'2 per cent—an improvement of 34 per cent; the death-rates of the two periods for the ages 5 to 10 are respectively 39‘9 per cent and 9'7 per cent—an * This decline in tlie mortality had not begun before the introduction of antitoxin, the mortality for 1893 ami 1894 at each age-period being— 83 3 per cent under 1 year, 04 per cent at 1-2 years, 60 per cent at 2-3 yeare, 47’7 ])er cent at 3-4 years, 37'5 per cent at 4-5 yeara, 33'9 per cent at 5-10 years, and above that age 0 j)er cent. A