With cloths moistened with a 3 per cent. solution of carbolic acid wipe the floor, furniture, sills, door-knobs, mantelpiece, etc., once a day, but never dust or sweep. Thoroughly disinfect the secretions of the patient and all articles used by him before they leave the room.
Allow the patient no food except what has been ordered, which will usually be milk, koumiss, junket, fruit-juices, and gruels. Encourage the patient to drink water freely. Apply to the body, at least once a day, a bland ointment. Note temperature, respiration, pulse, stools, quantity of nourishment, sleep, and effect of baths and medicine as in typhoid fever. Note especially the quantity and appearance of the urine, and have a sample in a clean bottle ready each day for the physician’s examination.
Keep the nose and throat clean with mild antiseptic sprays or washes. Relieve pain in the throat, unless otherwise directed, with ice-poultices or hot-water compresses.
MEASLES.
Measles is an acute contagious disease characterized by moderate fever of about a week’s duration; by an eruption on the skin, appearing on the third or fourth day as small red spots that soon coalesce into crescentic blotches, remain three or four days, and then disappear with a branny desquamation; and by catarrhal symptoms involving the eyes, nose, and bronchial tubes (conjunctivitis, coryza, and bronchitis). The most common complications of the disease are catarrhal pneumonia, inflammation of the gastro-intestinal tract, and inflammation of the middle ear.
Management.—The preventive measures described in connection with scarlet fever are applicable in measles. The room should be maintained at a temperature of 70° F., and should be moderately darkened. The bed should be so arranged that the face will be directed away from the light. Milk, broths, and gruels are suitable forms of nourishment. The temperature, pulse, respiration, hours of sleep, quantity of nourishment, amount of urine, and the effects of therapeutic measures should be carefully noted as in other fevers. Daily inunctions of the body with cold cream or olive oil are useful. Spraying the nose and throat with a mild antiseptic solution, and washing the eyes with boric acid solution (15 grains to the ounce of water) are usually ordered. Hot baths and hot drinks are indicated when the rash is delayed. Fever is generally controlled by sponging. Great care is necessary during convalescence to avert complications.
DIPHTHERIA.
Diphtheria is an acute contagious disease characterized by moderate fever of an irregular type, and of from one to two weeks’ duration; by considerable weakness and prostration; and by the formation of a grayish or whitish false membrane upon the throat, nose, larynx, and adjacent parts. The exciting cause of disease is the bacillus of diphtheria, which is found chiefly in secretions of the affected mucous membrane. The constitutional symptoms are due to the absorption of a toxin produced by this bacillus.
Diphtheria involving the larynx is sometimes termed true croup or pseudomembranous croup. This form is characterized by irregular fever, hoarseness of the voice, croupy cough, and progressive difficulty in breathing. Death frequently results from suffocation, unless tracheotomy or intubation of the larynx be performed.
The chief complications of diphtheria are pneumonia, degeneration of the heart-muscle, inflammation of the middle ear, and paralysis the result of an inflammation of the nerves.