The epidemic ague or "fainting fever" of Persia, a species of cholera, occurring in Teheran in the autumn of the year 1842 / by Charles W. Bell.

  • Bell Charles W. (Charles William), 1811?-1862.
Date:
[1843]
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Credit: The epidemic ague or "fainting fever" of Persia, a species of cholera, occurring in Teheran in the autumn of the year 1842 / by Charles W. Bell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    THE EPIDEMIC AGUE ob “ FAINTING FEVER ” op PERSIA, A Specie, o/ Cholera, occurring in Teheran in the Antumn of the year 1842. By CHARLES W. BELL, M.D. physician to Her Majesty’s Mission to Persia.* From the British and Foreign Medical Review, No. XXXII. The enidemic which has been oflate so fatally prevalent in several districts of PelL narticu arly in the capital Teheran, and in the neighbouring district of points of analogy with Indian cholera (cholera asphyxia) batata nature and habL It seems to be following tosame which that disease pursued when, some years ago it made 'form of c^Swhich Europe • and it may be regarded as a direct continuation of that foimlot choleia wmen was prevalent at J mouths of the Indus in the —“I™'.ttSs 2S’ and which reached Bunder Abbass, in the Persian Gulf, a little later in the season. I have been assured by the prime minister of the King of Persia, who is the best authority to be had here on the subject, that a disease similar to that which I am about to7describe, has appeared at several points in succession between Bunder Abbass and Teheran ; and it was evidently making its progress west and northerly in the d- rection of Azerbijan, when it was checked, by the setting in of winter, on the high grounds that intervene. . . , , If unfortunately, this disease shonld extend itself farther, some previous knowledge of the nature of the complaint cannot fail to be interesting to practitioners; for though not perhaps very formidable when the principles upon which it is to be treated are understood, and sufficient time is given to carry them into practice, still it is far from contemptible According to the best calculation I can make, it would appear that not less than four fifths of the whole population of this city were attacked by it, and that one sixteenth (of the whole population) have died of it.+ It is perhaps true that the mortality would have been much less if the native physicians had adopted a proper line of practice; still a disease producing such havoc, under any circumstances, is a formidable one. And if by publishing the present account of it, I should be fortu- nately able to save to others the regret which 1 myself have experienced for the loss of my first patients attacked with it before I became acquainted with its nature (for sub- sequent experience has convinced me that these ought to have been saved), it will make some amends for the anxiety which I then underwent; for, without previous knowledge of its nature, in a disease so obscure at its commencement as this is, and with a termination so unlooked for, some lives must be sacrificed, even in the best hands, before the necessary experience be gained. I. History of the Disease. The disease of which I am about to give some account is, in my opinion, essen- tially a quotidian ague ; but, as far as I know, it has not hitherto been described as an epidemic. J Although dangerous when left to nature, it is most amenable to cor- rect treatment. It becomes more dangerous in proportion as the ordinary stages, shivering, fever, and sweating, are less distinctly marked. And, when in place of the shivering fit, there occurs an agonizing oppression of the heart with general con- gestion of the venous system, the case will, according to my experience, always prove fatal if unassisted by art; whereas in the very worst cases, unless the circulation have • This Report was drawn up at the request of Count Medem, H. I. M. the Emperor of Russia’s Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Teheran. t The population of Teheran ranges in different months between 700,000 and 100,000 inhabitants. J I should here except an allusion to what is apparently the same disease mentioned as occurring in a district of India, in 1825, in Mr. G. H. Bell’s work on Cholera, p. 22.