Notes on the early history of diphtheria in the United States / by John C. Peters.

  • Peters, John C. (John Charles), 1819-1893.
Date:
[1876?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on the early history of diphtheria in the United States / by John C. Peters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    In scarlatina maligna the eruption is dusky and readily noticed. In scarlatina without eruption there is generally some pre-existing or co-existing disease, generally entero-colitis, with severe vomiting or purging; or nephritis, with albuminuria, followed by dropsy. No mention is made of dropsy as a sequel of the Bard or Colden throat distemper, so that it was doubtless true Diphtheria; although paralysis also is not mentioned. Again, the occurrence of diphtheritic croup is stated to have been common; while croup is rare after, or with scarlet fever, although Meigs and Pepper 'report several cases. Eretonneau, Rayer, and Tweedie never met with it. Guersant and Blache occasionally ob- served it; while although Rilliet and Barthez found.false membranes in the larynx in 3 cases, yet they had not been attended with the peculiar symptoms of croup. On the whole, we may claim positively that a large majority of the cases alluded to by Drs. Bard and Colden, were pure Diph- theria and nothing else. In my next, I will give an abstract of Dr. Samuel Bard's still more important communication made in 1771. [Extracted from The W. Va. Medical Student, July No., 1876.]