From Measles

Categories: Infectious Diseases

By the rapid onset, absence of cold symptoms of the nose,
eyes, and bronchial tubes, blotchy eruptions that occur in measles. There

is no strawberry tongue in measles and no coughing at beginning.



Recovery. The prognosis is favorable in uncomplicated cases. It also

depends upon the character of the epidemic type of the disease. In England

it varies from thirteen to fourteen per cent. In this country it is

someti es as low as two to four per cent. The kidney trouble is always

feared for it may result in uremia and death, or the acute may be followed

by chronic nephritis or Bright's disease, which will ultimately prove

fatal.



Sanitary Care of Room and Patient. If you are exposed to this disease

what can you do? If a child, it must be put in a room by itself. If

several children have been exposed they should be put in separate rooms.

These rooms should have no carpet, curtains, rugs, etc., or any

unnecessary furniture, for everything must be disinfected afterward, and

sometimes destroyed. The clothes worn just before the sickness should be

sterilized in steam or boiled and then aired in the sun. Anyone suffering

from sore throat who has been about the patient should not be allowed to

be near the healthy. All the children must be kept from school. It is well

for them to spray their throats with a simple cleansing solution morning

and night, with a full teaspoonful of boric acid to a glass full of warm

water; or you can use common salt, but not strong enough to irritate the

throat, about one teaspoonful to a glass of water. If you have listerine

or glyco-thymoline or any such disinfectant use them, one teaspoonful to

sixteen spoonfuls of water. Hot water itself is a very good gargle, very

healing and cleansing. Anyone who enters the sick room and comes out again

should wear a sheet all over him. On coming out, he or she should leave

this sheet outside the window of another room. If the person has a beard

he should wash his face with a 1 to 2000 solution of corrosive sublimate,

and the hands also, before leaving the sick room. The one who waits upon

the sick one should remain there, but everyone can not do so. They must

stay away from the healthy if possible.







City and State Supervision. If you live in the city your physician should

notify the health board who will probably send someone to instruct you

regarding cautions and some cities have private rules, laws, etc., for

them to follow while under quarantine. A copy is usually furnished also to

your close neighbors. Also some of the state departments of health have

made up pamphlets which are circulated free on request dealing with the

sanitary science of infectious and contagious diseases. Some colleges use

these same pamphlets in their study of sanitary science. Much valuable

information is contained in them. Comparatively few people learn of these

pamphlets. For the benefit of those who have not read or seen them we

quote from their scarlet fever subjects as follows:



HOW TO AVOID AND PREVENT SCARLET FEVER.



Do not let a child go near a case of scarlet fever. This is especially

important to be observed.



Children are in much greater danger of death from scarlet fever than are

adults; but adult persons often get and spread the disease, and sometimes

die from it. Mild cases in adults may cause fatal cases among children.

Unless your services are needed keep away from the disease yourself. If

you do visit a case, bathe yourself and change and disinfect your clothing

and hair, beard, if any, and hands before you go where there is a child.

Do not permit any person or thing or a dog or cat, or other animal to come

from a case of scarlet fever to a child. No cat or dog should be permitted

to enter the sick room.



Do not permit a child to wear or handle clothing worn by a person during

sickness or convalescence from scarlet fever.



Beware of any person who has sore throat. Do not kiss or come near to such

a person. Do not drink from the same cup, blow the same whistle, or put

his pen or pencil in your mouth. Whenever a child has sore throat and

fever, and especially when this is accompanied by a rash on the body, the

child and attendant should immediately be isolated until the physician has

seen it and determined whether it has scarlet fever. Strict quarantine

should be established and maintained throughout the course of the disease.

Exposed persons should be isolated until such time has elapsed as may

prove that they are not infected. The period of incubation, that is the

interval of time between exposure to the contagion of scarlet fever and

the first sign of the disease in the person so exposed, varies. In many

cases it appears in seven days, in some cases in fourteen days, and in

some cases twenty-one days; the average period is about nine days.

Quarantine of persons exposed should not be raised under four weeks.





Children believed to be uninfected may be sent away from the house in

which there is scarlet fever to families in which there are no persons

liable to the disease, or to previously disinfected convalescent wards in

hospitals; but in either case they should be isolated from the public

until the expiration of the period of incubation. This time may vary, but

for full protection to the public isolation should be observed for four

weeks.



Persons who are attending upon children or other persons suffering from

scarlet fever, and also the members of the patient's family, should not

mingle with other people nor permit the entrance of children into their

house.







SANITARY CARE OF INFECTED AND SICK PERSONS AND ROOMS.



All persons known to be sick with this disease (even those but mildly

sick) should be promptly and thoroughly isolated from the public and

family. In ordering the isolation of infected persons, the health officer

means that their communication with well persons and the movement of any

article from the infected room or premises shall be absolutely cut off.



Except it be disinfected, no letter or paper should be sent through the

mail from an infected place. That this is of more importance than in the

case of smallpox is indicated by the fact of the much greater number of

cases of sickness and of deaths from scarlet fever,--a disease for which

no such preventive as vaccination is yet known.



The room in which one sick with this disease is to be placed should

previously be cleared of all needless clothing, drapery and other

materials likely to harbor the germs of the disease; and except after

thorough disinfection nothing already exposed to the contagion of the

disease should be moved from the room. The sick room should have only such

articles as are indispensable to the well-being of the patient, and should

have no carpet, or only pieces which can afterwards be destroyed.

Provision should be made for the introduction of a liberal supply of fresh

air and the continual change of the air in the room without sensible

currents or drafts.



Soiled clothing, towels, bed linen, etc., on removal from the patient

should not be carried about while dry; but should be placed in a pail or

tub covered with a five per cent solution of carbolic acid, six and

three-fourths ounces of carbolic acid to one gallon water. Soiled clothing

should in all cases be disinfected before sending away to the laundry,

either by boiling for at least half an hour or by soaking in the five per

cent solution of carbolic acid.





The discharges from the throat, nose, mouth, and from the kidneys and

bowels of the patient should be received into vessels containing an equal

volume of a five per cent solution of carbolic acid, and in cities where

sewers are used, thrown into the water closet; elsewhere the same should

be buried at least one hundred feet distant from any well, and should not

by any means be thrown into a running stream, nor into a cesspool or

privy, except after having been thoroughly disinfected. Discharges from

the bladder and bowels may be received on old cloths, which should be

immediately burned. All vessels should be kept scrupulously clean and

disinfected. Discharges from the nose, ears, etc., may be received on soft

rags or pieces of cloth and which should be immediately burned.



All cups, glasses, spoons, etc., used in the sick room, should at once on

removal from the room, be washed in the five per cent solution of carbolic

acid and afterwards in hot water, before being used by any other person.



Food and drink that have been in the sick room should be disinfected and

buried. It should not be put in the swill barrel.



Perfect cleanliness of nurses and attendants should be enjoined and

secured. As the hands of the nurses of necessity become frequently

contaminated by the contagion of the disease, a good supply of towels and

basins, one containing a two per cent solution of carbolic acid (two and

three-fifths ounces of carbolic acid to a gallon of water) and another for

plain soap and water should always be at hand and freely used.



Persons recovering from scarlet fever, so long as any scaling or peeling

of the skin, soreness of the eyes or air passages or symptoms of dropsy

remain, should be considered dangerous, and, therefore, should not attend

school, church or any public assembly or use any public conveyance. In a

house infected with scarlet fever, a temporary disinfection after apparent

recovery may be made, so as to release from isolation the members of the

household who have not had the disease.



Diet and Nursing. Food should be given every two to four hours. Only

water can be given as long as there is nausea and vomiting, and sometimes

not even that. After they have stopped you can give milk and water and

then milk. You should give it to a child every two to three hours, about

one-fourth of a glass full and warm if possible. A child can take at least

one quart in twenty-four hours. Watch the stomach and bowels for bad

symptoms; if necessary you can put in one teaspoonful of lime water after

the milk has been heated. If the child will not take milk, use one of the

prepared foods. Mellins' malted milk, Borden's malted milk, peptonized

milk, Imperial Granum, and follow the directions on the bottle. The

different food waters mentioned above are to use when milk and other food

preparations cannot be given. Albumen (white of an egg and water, not

whipped) can be given and always cold. Cold milk also tastes better.





During the Sickness, etc. The linen, bedding, etc., of the patient should

be put into a one to five-thousand solution of corrosive sublimate (you

can buy that strength tablet) before being boiled, dried and aired in the

sun. The sick room must be kept well ventilated, but no drafts should be

allowed to go over the patient. The temperature is better at 68 degrees F.

The patient should be kept in bed during all the feverish stage and during

the scaling stage also.



Care must be taken lest the patient take cold. During this time there is a

great danger of ear and kidney trouble. It would be safer to keep the

patient in bed until the peeling is done. Children are naturally lively,

risky, and a little careless. To keep the scales from flying you can

grease the patient with cold cream, vaselin, lard, etc. This will also

help to ease the itching. The peeling is aided by bathing the patient

every day with warm, soapy water.



Special Treatment. In ordinary cases little treatment is needed except to

keep the throat and nose free from excessive secretions. The urine should

be examined daily, and the bowels should move once or twice a day. Cold

water should be given frequently after the nausea has passed away. Milk is

the usual food, but must not be given during the vomiting stage. Equal

parts of milk and water can be given after the vomiting stage, if the

patient will not take pure milk.



During the vomiting stage very little water even can be given. The

greatest danger in scarlet fever comes from the throat complications and

the high fever.



When the fever is high the patient suffers from delirium. A temperature of

105 is dangerous and such patients must be bathed well in water,

commencing at 90 degrees and rubbed well all over while in the water,

allowing the temperature of the bath to fall to 85 or 80 degrees while so

doing; bath to last five to fifteen minutes. Bathe the head with water, at

the temperature of 50 degrees, all the time the temperature is at 103

degrees or higher. Always use the thermometer to determine the temperature

of the water. Weakly children often do not stand the bath well, so you

must exercise discretion in giving it often. The temperature must be kept

down to 102 to 103-1/2, and baths must be used often to do so. Where baths

cannot be used, frequent washing with water at 60 to 70 degrees must be

adopted without drying the child afterwards. A mother should always

remember that a feverish, restless child needs a bath or a good washing

with cool soap and water. If the bowels and kidneys do not act freely

enough give the following:



Epsom Salts 2 ounces

Cream of Tartar 2 ounces



Mix and give one-half teaspoonful in water every three hours until the

bowels move freely.



This is the dose for a child one year old.





Dropsy in Scarlet Fever. In this case you must have a doctor. A simple

way to make a dropsy patient sweat is to place the patient upon a cane

seated chair, pin a blanket around the neck, covering the whole body.

Under the chair place a wooden pail half full of cool water and into this

put a brick baked as hot as possible; or you can introduce steam under the

blanket while the patient is sitting on a chair, or lying in bed, taking

care not to scald the patient. This will cause sweating, and relieve the

dropsy and also congested kidneys.



How Soon May a Scarlet Fever Patient Associate with the Healthy?--It is

best to wait a few weeks after scaling ends. Give the patient a bath in a

one to 10,000 corrosive sublimate solution first.



Caution. An ordinary case of scarlet fever does not need much medicine.

Nursing and care are essential. Even the slightest case should be watched.

There is always danger of the eyes, ears and kidneys becoming affected. If

the child complains of pain in the head the ear must be examined. If the

urine passed is small in quantity, or if there are any signs of dropsy,

treatment must be given at once. You have heard very much lately about the

sting of the honey bee for rheumatism. I often use a preparation of this

for the kidney troubles in scarlet fever. The name is Apis Mel. I use the

second or third homeopathic attenuation in tablet form and give one to two

about every two hours. I have found this effective in such cases where the

urine is small in quantity, and there is some dropsy. The lightest cases

can have dropsy, especially if special care is not taken when scaling goes

on.



I was once attending three children for scarlet fever. The one that had it

in a mild form became affected with dropsy. For this I steamed her. In her

case I placed her in a cane-seated chair, pinned a blanket tightly around

her so as to thoroughly cover her, put a pail of cool water under her

chair and dropped into the pail a hot baked brick. The hot brick caused

steam to rise from the water and enveloped the child, producing sweating.

This was done frequently, and the child considered it a joke, but it

relieved her of the bloat. It was in the country and these crude means

produced the desired result. By attaching a rubber tube to a steaming

kettle and introducing the steam under the covering the same result can be

produced. Sometimes you may not have all things you wish, then you must

make use of what is handy. You would be surprised perhaps to know how much

can be done to relieve sickness by what can be found in every house. (For

disinfectants see chapter on nursing.)