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.
[INFECTIOUS DISEASES 175]
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.)