Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-03-08
Sore Throat.
BARRE, Feb. %, 1860.

EDITOR FREEMAN While much is said and
written on the subject pertaining to the health,
improvement and well being of cattle, horses,
and many of the lower habitants of our earth,
but little is seen before the more public eye in
refercnbe to the varied ailments of that higher
and nOber biped of creation, man. 1t would
seem that this being must be of the least ac-
count of all the rest, and yet there are some
who do not thus conclude; therefore, if &C.
ceptable, may hand you an article occasional
y, on subjects relating to our own SANITARY
condition, alike exposed to ills of nature.
would speak at this time of disease, in refer
eace to which am often interrogated, in my
rounds among the people, called the throat
dscase-Diphtheri0 -Angina Pelticularis. As
this disease is now prevailing to some extent in
our Country, and quite fatally in many in
stances, a few thoughts upon it will not be UNI
interesting to your readers, think, especially,
to those whe IN themselves, or in thCir families,
have been called to grapple with tie pitiless
monster
Diphthesia though new to us in some of its
characteristics, is yet an old enemy of our race.
In its great antiquity it has been identified
with the +" NAHUM Egyptiocum 80 well des-
cribed by Areteus. 1t prevailed in Rome A.
D. $50, again in Holland in 1927, and in Paris
in 1876. Other periods might be named, and
ether localities given, where it has appeared at
carly dates. Bretanneau gave the first practi
cal description of it in 1922 Since then it
has more firmly established in France and Eng
land, and within a short tune ia the United
States.
Children are those most subject to it, and so
nsidious is it, often, in its approaches, that it
is hard to persuade patient or friends of the
danger at hand. In other cases, after rigors
and vomitings, prostration succeeds at once,
and in the lapse Of q short period, the system
has yielded to some overwhelming morbifc in
auence. In either case, the earliest complaint
is of the throat, which, OH inspection, shows
condition varying in appearance according to
the early period Of the attack and its severity.
Sometimes the tonsils, soft palate, and uvula
are seen to be simply red and swollen, and, on
casual view, nothing more would be noticed, so
that the disease might be set down simply as a
case of Tonsilitis, Angina Or Quinsy But
usually in a few hours after the first feeling of
uneasiness, a careful examination of the fauces
will disclose one or more white patches on the
tonsils, not larger, perhaps, than split pea !;
but even this is sufficient to warn us of tho
powerful foe we have to contend with.
This apparently insignificant spot-one or
more-is, in fact, the diagnostic sign OF the
malady, and unless speedily arrested by appro-
pirate treatment, is destined to spread over the
whole soft palate, and often to invade, with fa-
tai effects, the trachea and larger bronchial
tubes. The entire throat may be invested with
the membrane, in twelve hours, in severe cases,
with all the symptoms alarmingly increased.
Deglutiten will now be very painful and
difficult, SO that the patient. especially if a
child, refuses the attempt to take either food or
medicine; and this, in fact, constitutes one of
the main barriers to the treatment This false
membrane exuded upon the fauces, is sometimes
so tenacious as to be furrowed by an instrument
with difficulty. 1t is gray and semi-transparent,
unlike in appearance to the emulation of the
old putrid sore throat, (angina putridus mQhg-
na,) which is thick, pultatious, heavy, and
dirty-looking. 1t is similar to the membranous
deposition of true Group, and when pervading
the air passages, has received the name Of
Croupal Diphtheria. The attending fever,
which at first may be slight, is often increased
while the throat symptoms are being advanced,
and, if the malignant character is still to be
developed, the pulse is rapid almost beyond
limit,-a purulent fux from the nostrils show
ing it has invaded the nasel mucous membrane
with exhalations of most feted odor, anG
coma, and prostration, &C., ensue. Death
under these circumstances, may take place in Q
state of commandment quietude and apparent
ease.
DiptheriG may combine with and complicatt
great variety Of diseases, especially when this
epidemic is prevailing. The duration of thu
disease is quite variable. 1t may prove fatal ii
forty-eight hours; while, on the other hand, i
may continue from one to perhaps three weeks
The improvement may be looked for, usually
under proper treatment, in from three to fv
days. There is no doubt Of its contagious ant
infectious nature, but it does not act with tn
same unerring certainty as the contagion o
some diseases, and its injecting distance is less