The Home Nurse (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ... XVI CEREBROSPINAL MEN INGITIS As much dreaded as infantile paralysis is another disease, which has a similar onset and which may result in paralysis, known as cerebrospinal meningitis. This disease is due to a germ, called the diplococcus intracellularis, which is not very communicable, although the disease occurs in epidemics..T he epidemics are more common in winter and early spring and may occur in quite isolated localities. The onset of the disease usually is sudden, the child being taken with a chill, followed by a severe headache, vomiting and convulsions. The temperature rises to about one hundred and two degrees F., the neck becomes stiff, the body rigid and bent backward so that a. child lying on its back rests almost entirely on its head and heels, the center of the body being arched. The eyes may develop strabismus (cross eyes) and photophobia, or dread of light, usually occurs. There are two forms of the disease, one the hyper acute form in which death occurs in from twelve to thirty-six hours. The following is an illustration of this: A little girl of ten years was well enough at two P. M. to carry a bundle of clothes several blocks. Returning home, she complained of intense headache, vomited frequently, and was so weak she had to go to bed. In a few hours she became unconscious with a high fever and died at eleven P. M.' The usual form of the disease is not so severe as the case described. In the more severe form there usually is an eruption which resembles flea bites and has given the disease the name of spotted fever. These eruptions may occur in the less severe form but are not common. The duration of the usual form is from three to six weeks. During this time the symptoms vary in severity. At times the child may...