In the first place prophylactic efforts must be constantly employed to prevent possible contagion. Healthy children must be strictly seperated from the sick till the end of desquamation or scaling—a period of four to six weeks.
If the course of the attack is normal, the patient should be kept in bed under a light cover with a room temperature of 60° to 65°. The sick room must be well ventilated and aired daily.
The windows should be hung with transparent red curtains.
The diet may consist of milk, curds, barley soup, oatmeal gruel, flour gruel, with some cooked fruit and, of drinks, lemonade, soda water, and raspberry juice; but the most important drink from a scientific point is Dechmann's "Tonogen," as previously described.
The linen should be changed often
Sponge baths with chilled vinegar-water (1 part cider vinegar diluted with 2 parts water) are helpful when the temperature rises to 102°. If the temperature reaches 105° or over, baths must be promptly administered. The patient may be placed in a bath of 85° or 90°, and the water allowed to cool gradually down to 70° or 65°.
A sick child may stay in such a bath ten or twenty minutes, while the time in a bath practically should not be more than three or five minutes. The bath must be repeated as soon as the fever again reaches 105°.
When the first symptoms of measles, scarlet fever or chicken-pox are noticed, give the child a three-quarter pack. (See directions under "packs"). After each pack sponge the patient with cool vinegar-water.
If the fever is high during the night, apply a sponge bath every half hour or hour.
During the day give the patient ¼ teaspoonful of Dechmann's Plasmogen, dissolved in ½ pint water, a little every hour.