Yellow fever facts, as to its nature, prevention and treatment / by John B.C. Gazzo.

  • Gazzo, John B. C.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Yellow fever facts, as to its nature, prevention and treatment / by John B.C. Gazzo. 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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    ;;2 sons, as a general rule, convalesce more rapidly than the aged; therefore, they require less stimulant in proportion. If the patient, when in health, has been in the habit of taking wine or other alcoholic stimulants, he will roqnre wine in more liberal quantities thau if ho had been strictly temperate, both during the fever and iu convalescence. As health becomes confirmed, it should be gradually withdrawn. When convalescence becomes tedious and profuse and ex- hausting sweats occur at night, much benefit will accrue from the administration of the aromatic sulphuric acid. Conva- lescence appears to be sometimes very much retarded by a debility of the stomach, which disable the alimentary canal. From its appointed function, a species of hectic excitement is sustained for a long time. The pulse remains frequent, some- thing like a febrile paroxysm occurs every afternoon and the patient sweats copiously at night. Under these circumstances 1 have found nothing so effectual as the following formula: R. Iodine, 3j Potassa Iodide, 3ij Syrup auranti corti, ^iij M.—Ten drops in two tablespoonfuls cold water every three hours. With regard to exercise, not less care is required than con- cerning the allowance of food. Convalescents soon grow tired of their beds, and not a few, if unopposed, will overtask their feeble strength by long sittings out of bed. Errors of this sort have not uil frequently been followed by very bad consequences. In quitting his bed the patient should do so gradually ; even should the observance of this advice be unnecessarily strict, no danger can result; whereas, if disregarded, dangerous if not fatal consequences may be incurred. Especial care is to be observed in the return to out-door ex- ercise. The patient may have acquired sufficient strength to allow of his being out of the bed the greater part of the day, but he should not on this account thrust himself out of doors. Injury has often resulted from venturing out too early during the hot weather of summer and fall. That many persons who have struggled through a most dangerous fever, have, from imprudent exposure to heat, been seized with intense inflam- mation iu some organ which rapidly destroyed life. The Editor of the London Lancet, Feb., 1872, remarks, as bearing upon the important question of restraining extreme heat of the body in fevers: ,lWe must remember that, whereas, the nitrogen containing tissues are hardly consumed at all iu circumstances of health. The febrile state involved a large destruction of the most impoitant organs of the body, partly from the effect of the excessive febrile heat on the vitality of the blood. Exces- sive heat does not meau plenty of streugth, but exactly the op- posite ; it is an absolute proof that the reserve forces of the