INCUBATION PERIOD
AND QUARANTINE.
A constant period of incubation is not to be expected. In most instances, as will be seen from the following table, the difference between the maximum and the minimum period is not very great. It seems remarkable, however, that a disease should show such extremes as typhoid fever:
| Normal. | Maximum. | Minimum. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variola | 12 | days. | 14 | days. | 9 | days. |
| Varicella | 14 | “ | 19 | “ | 13 | “ |
| Measles | 10 | “ | 14 | “ | 4 | “ |
| Rubella | 18 | “ | 21 | “ | 8 | “ |
| Scarlatina | 2 | “ | 7 | “ | 1 | day. |
| Influenza | 3 | “ | 5 | “ | 1 | “ |
| Diphtheria | 2 | “ | 7 | “ | 2 | days. |
| Typhoid fever | 12 | “ | 23 | “ | 5 | “ |
| Mumps | 19 | “ | 23 | “ | 12 | “ |
It is a peculiar fact that the diseases in which the period of incubation is shortest are those in which the infection persists the longest.
The period of quarantine must be guided largely by the period of incubation, hence the subject is an important one for a variety of reasons. The “Medical Magazine” (London) states that the period of quarantine should be at least a day longer than the maximum period of incubation for each disease. This is a very uncertain rule, however, for the patient should be free from all signs of illness, and especially from fever. The period of infection is very doubtful. It may be greatly prolonged by complications. This is especially true of small-pox, diphtheria, typhoid and scarlet fevers. The period during which a disease may be infectious cannot be stated definitely. It varies with different diseases, and must be determined according to the symptoms and character of the case. Measles, chicken-pox, and mumps lose the direct power of infection very early, and the infective principle does not remain active for a long period in the room in which the patient has been ill. Measles, mumps, and chicken-pox may be infectious in the earlier stages before becoming definite in character. Smallpox is not actually dangerous until the eruption appears.
THE CARE OF THE SKIN
AND MOUTH IN FEVERS.
By Harriet Higbee,
Graduate Illinois Training School for Nurses.
From the American Journal of Nursing.
The prevention and treatment of bed-sores have been and are frequently discussed in medical books and journals. But as it is a subject that often taxes the nurse’s ingenuity to the extreme, it can not be dwelt upon too frequently. Many preventive measures are familiar to us, as the soap and water bath for cleanliness, followed by rubbing with alcohol and dusting with boric-acid powder, or boric-acid powder and bismuth subnitrate in equal parts for dryness. The relief of pressure is most important. Make use of air-cushions, cotton-pads, pillows, water-bed and frequent change of position where that is possible. In addition to these, there are a few measures not generally used which after a thorough test have proved satisfactory. One is a simple inexpensive contrivance used to relieve pressure of heel, elbow, and ear. It is a pig’s bladder filled two-thirds full of either warm or cold water, as the case requires, tied securely, and placed under a cotton ring. The weight of the head or elbow rests on the ring and the tender point rests on the soft fluctuating mass. If the skin is inactive, as in paralysis, or there is frequent or constant moisture from perspiration or involuntary evacuations of urine or feces, the alcohol and boric acid, etc., are of very little value. They do not prevent the absorption of the moisture by the skin and its subsequent softness or excoriation, which is commonly followed by infection. In such cases the back should be washed with soap and water every six or eight hours, or after every involuntary evacuation, and thoroughly rubbed with a small amount of oil-substance, as camphorated oil or a mixture like the following:
| Mutton tallow, | ℥j; |
| Olive oil, | f℥j; |
| Carbolic acid, 95 per cent., | ♏ j. |