Observations on the period of incubation of scarlet fever and of some other diseases / by Charles Murchison.

Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the period of incubation of scarlet fever and of some other diseases / by Charles Murchison. 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.

    18/34 (page 16)
    Case V.—Mary B., aged 21, was admitted into the London Fever Hospital on September 14, 1863, on the fourth day of an attack of scarlet fever. She had been in service, and on the evening of Septem- ber 9 she had gone to a ' new place,' at a house at which some of the inmates were suffering from scarlet fever. On the morning of the 11th she had been seized with vomiting and sore-throat, followed by all the ordinary symptoms of scarlet fever. In this case the period of incubation was less than thirty-six hours. Case VI—On March 4, 1863, about 4 p.m., W. F., aged 11, a school-boy, went with some of his school-fellows to a house in which there were cases of scarlet fever, and remained there about two hours. Early in the morning of March 6 he was seized with scarlet fever, which was followed by gastro-enteritis, terminating fatally on March 23. Here also the period of incubation did not exceed thirty-six hours; but it could not have been much shorter. Case VII.—On the evening of February 23, 1878, Mrs. M. went from Hampstead to a school at Wimbledon, to nurse her son who was ill with malignant scarlet fever, and on the morning of February 25 she awoke with sore-throat and other symptoms of scarlet fever, Avhich ran a mild course. Here also the period of incubation did not exceed thirty-six hours. Case VIII.—On June 13, 1875, I was consulted in the case of Lady A., aged 70, who had a typical scarlatina rash, with sore-throat and redness of the fauces; pulse 96; temp. 101-5° Fahr. She had never had scarlet fever before; but her daughter had had it when over 50 years of age. On June 9 Lady A. had dined out at 8 p.m., re- turning home about 11 p.m. Of the sixteen persons who sat down to dinner, eight were attacked within five days with scarlet fever, which there were good reasons for attributing to infected cream. (See Dr. Buchanan's report: 'Reports of Medical Officers of Privy Council,' New Ser., No. vii. 1876, p. 72.) In the forenoon of June 11, Lady A. began to have fever and sore- throat. In this case the period of incubation seemed to be somewhere between thirty-four and forty hours. Cases IX. and X.—The Hon. Mr. and Mrs. B., aged respectively about 5t> and 40, bpth dined with the same party as Lady A., on June 9, 1875. Both were taken ill with scarlet fever early on June 11, and on June 19 I saw them both in consultation, with great enlargement of the cervical glands and secondary fever. The latent period in both cases was probably somewhat between thirty-four and forty hours. Case XI.—The following case was communicated to me by Dr. Alfred Wiltshire, after reading my paper in the Lancet, of August 13, 1864, on the latent period of scarlatina :— On March 1, 1864, Mrs. M. took her two children, Robert, aged four and a half, and his brother, aged two and a half, to University College Hospital, the latter having rickety deformity of the legs. They were in the out-patient room from two to four p.m. While there Mrs.