The practice of medicine / by M. Charteris.

  • Charteris, M. (Matthew), 1840-1897.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The practice of medicine / by M. Charteris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a small vesicle within which the insect lies ; in the burrow will be found ten to fifteen black dots, the insect's eggs. It most frequently attacks the flexures of joints; notably it is first observed between the fingers, whence it may spread over the whole surface of the body with the excep- tion of the face, upon which it is never seen save in a few cases in infants. The deposition of the acarus acts as an irritant; a vesicular eruption is formed, and with this is associated much itching, which is specially increased by warmth. The only certain evidence of the presence of the disease is the discovery of the insect and its burrows, but in the absence of this the following points are usually held to warrant such a diagnosis:—(1) A clear history of contagion, several members of the same family being generally affected; (2) the steady spread of the disease from one part to another; (3) intolerable itching, in- tensified by warmth, pain and the burning sensation characteristic of eczema being absent; (4) the detection of small pointed vesicles between the fingers and on the flexor and ulnar aspects of the wrists, with a pruriginous eruption on the front of the forearm, on the mammae, genitals, and inner side of thigh, the face and scalp being in adults invariably untouched. A valuable diagnostic sign in children is the presence of the eruption round the ankles, on the buttocks, and on the ulnar side of the wrists. Treatment—The acarus is most easily destroyed by the application of sulphur ointment (F. 605). This should be rubbed in firmly for three nights in succession, and washed off by a warm bath on the fourth day, when the underclothing should be changed. The clothes worn should be fumigated by sulphurous acid gas, or destroyed. If the sulphur be continued too long, it gives rise to a very troublesome artificial eczema. In infants, and those whose skin is too irritable to bear the sulphur application, storax (F. 60c) may be used. Tinea Teicophytina is, in all its modifications, con- nected with the presence of a fungus named the tricophy-