Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1890 — DEATH IN DIPHTHERIA. [ARTICLE]

DEATH IN DIPHTHERIA.

It is Certain that no Infallible Remedy is Known. The Best Physicians Agree that Pure Air, Good Diet and Vigorous Health Are the Only Absolute Preventives—Some Approved Receipt). There is no infallible cure for diphtheria. Once the dread disease fastens on a child the probabilities are all against recovery. In its earlier stages and milder forms the disease may often be successfully combated if right methods be employed. In a disease which al ways develops a certain form and, with very rare exceptions, is only i fatal where the false membrane has gained a foothold, it would seem that somewhere in the ro dm of remedies existed a specific which, itself unchanging. would successfully combat that unvarying symptom. But in fact no two cases of diphtheria are alike. A difference in heredity, some variance in the condition of the blood in a paritcular patient, any vtie of a thousand influences of diet, hygiene, temperature, all combine to isolate each case and make it a tiling to be studied by itsfiX.iu diffaiamL.. from any other, and with the chances of recovery either more or less than in other instances. Prevention is possible; cure is more nearly impossible thaii in ‘ almost any other disease known to medical science.— Diphtheria usually attacks children from two to ton years of age. It is almost invariably accompanied by sore throat, directly following which one and sometimes two formations of a 1 foreign and vicious growth appear. These are of a grayish-yellow ap;»earance, and at the beginning are no larger than a barley grain. They usually grow very rapidly, spreading over the back of the throat and forming a false membrane which strangles the patient. In some cases this developement is very rapid, death following the first appearance of the fungus by only a few hours. In others it’is of more slow progress, reaching into days. Twelve days is the usual course of the disease, and though it may vary below it will seldom go above that. Diphtheria,however,is in many eases fatal even before a single trace of the false membrane can be seen. The poison of the disease kills before it spreads its ghastly warning. Aside from the precautions as to dry and wholesome air, vigorous strength and cleanliness, a gargle of .any antiseptic agent should be frequently used to prevent the raw surfaces of any portion of the throat from invitinga growth of -the false membrane, ths fungus that comes so swiftly, and so stubbornly defies removal. For this growth will take root wherever scarified flesh presents a surface—the nostrils, the lips, may be overrun, as well'as the portions of the throat and tongue where the growth is usually seen. For this purpose, says a writer in the Chicago Herald, an antiseptic gargle is invaluable. Even so common a gargle’ as vinegar and water is often used with good effect, not to cure, but to prevent the inception of the disease. Chloride of iron is an excellent remedy, both as a gargle and as a remedy to be taken internally, for it not only preventsan exposed surf ce, but invigorates the system so that affections of all kinds

are less Hable to find lodging place. A gargle of one d rop of carbolic acid to ninety-nine drops of water, used every hour, is recommended. A saturated solution of chlorate of potash, used as a gargle, is well known of as a preventive, although the carbolic acid seems to have the preference with the medical fraternity. The most important thing, then, to be said of diphtheria is that it should Im prevented; that this can best be done by securing pure, fresh, dry air at a temperature of from 70 tqjo degreesthat children should be kept in vigorous health by regular dieton nutritious food, and that so re throat should be guarded against by examinations and occasional gargles to keep the exposed surfaces in a healthy condition. All this done the ch nces Of contracting the dread disease are reduced to a minimum. As to remedies, their name is liegion, but that which may do the effective work in one case is likely to be the very thing to avoid in another; as soon as the Gist symptoms of diphtheria are evident a physician should be summoned, disease so dangerous, so insidious in its approach and so rapid in its development should never be consigned to experiments, but that the tendency of mankind to prescribe in all cases should •be curbed, and a physician—the nearest one, summoned at once. As to remedies: A Chicago physician, who has lost few cases of this disease, recommends the tincture.of iron. One drop in a teacup of water is recommended for no infant of one year, if any cases appear in such tender years. The dose should be inere ised one drop with each year. The solution should be used as a gargle, and once an hour a teaspoonful should also be sw Bowed. Quinine is nearly always recommended by physicians bee .use of its tonic effects, for diphtheri» is one of the most exhaustive of vital forces of any disease known. When physicians cannot at once be summoned let warm flannel clothes be used to wrap the thro <t. to protect it from changes of temperature. When the disease is well started physicians rely on quinine and alcoholic stimulants largely, to keep up vitality while the disease is wasting its immediately dangerous powers.