Experience and treatment of diphtheria in Campbeltown and neighbourhood / by William Gibson, M.D.

  • Gibson, W. (William)
Date:
[1864]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experience and treatment of diphtheria in Campbeltown and neighbourhood / by William Gibson, M.D. 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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    Reprinted from the Glasgow Medical Jouknal/or Janmry, 1864. ExIPERlENCE AND TREATMENT OF DIPHTHERIA IN CAMPBELTOWN AND NEIGHBOUEHOOD. BY WILLIAM GIBSON, M.D., CAMPBELTOWN. (Sead be/ore the Medico-Chibtjrgical Society of Glasgow, August, 1863'.) - The object in the sequel, is to give as correct an account as 1 can of the disease as it came within my observation in this neighbourhood, and to state the treatment of it which I found most successful. , . _ The first case of the complaint which I saw was in August, 1860, and so far as I can ascertain, this was its first appearance in this locality. Subsequently, it occurred sporadically until May, 1861, when it became slightly epidemic, or at least com- mon, and continued so until January, 1863, when it again became sporadic, and remained so until its disappearance in June, Fifty-one cases came under my notice. These cases naturally separated themselves into four groups, or varieties, according to their general symptoms ; viz., the mild, inflammatory, insidious, and asthenic. This classification I shall follow; but before proceeding to the description of each, I will point out several symptoms common to them all. These were, First, Constant symptoms, and. Second, Occasional, but occurring in any variety. Constant Symptoms.—(1) Spreading injiammation of the mucous membrane of the pharynx, and exudation of lymph on some part of the inflamed surface. The colour of this inflamed surface varied in difierent cases; in some it resembled that in ordinary sore throat; in others it had an angry red appearance, and in several it was of a dusky crimson. It was never accompanied with much swelling. This inflammation extended in some instances into the nares, in others over the roof of the mouth; in