Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1878-08-28
The Yellow Fever.

The yellow fever is raging to a most
dreadful degree in the South. Hun
dreds of people are dying daily. The
appeals for aid touch the heart. Vol
unteer nurses and doctors are asked
for almost every hour.
Some writers contend that it is
contagious; others contend that it is
not, but that it arises, or is genera
ted, or bred 10y certain impure air,
which, whOmsoever it touches, when
the system is in certain condition, is
certain to get it. Some say that it is
a Providential scourge, direct; others
say that it is a Providential scourge
only in this, that people should not
allow the accumulation of filth to
produce the certain state of the at
mosphere that breeds yellow fever,
and when they allow filth to accumu
late to breed disease and death, that
it is the penalty for the violation of
the law of cleanliness which God en-
joins on all. 1t scarcely ever appears
in temperatures the medium of which
is under seventy-fve degrees.
A writer says OF the disease: "In
general it attacks suddenly, with
chill, pain in the head, back and
limbs, and occasionally with nausea
or vomiting. The eyes appears red,
and infamed, and feel hot and pain
ful; the pupils are sometimes diiated,
but more generally contracted The
chill is commonly of very short du-
ration; as it goes of, the pulse be-
comes, in general, full and quick, the
skin hot and dry, the face flushed, the
eyes red and watery. The face has
an expression similar to that of per
son intoxicated. There is a great
oppression and tightness at the pit
of the stomach, with constant rest
lessness the bowels are costive, the
tongue white and coated, or of a
bright red color. The heat of the
skin and pains In the head and limbs
augment rapidly during the first
thirty-six hours, and then gradually
decrease, so that at the end of the
third day there is either very great
remission of the symptoms or they
are again renewed, and succeeded by
pain and sense of burning in the
stomach, constant nausea, with efforts
to vomit, discharging at first only
thick green mucus. The pulse is
now small, quick and irregular, the
stomach sore to the touch, the bowels
costive or griped, and the tongue
brown and dry. The symptoms rap
idly increased, until at length the
sense Of heat and pain in the stomach
cease, and vomiting of black haky
matter, resembling coffee grounds,
takes place The patient now often
feels quite easy, thinks he is getting
better, rises out of bed and walks
about, bat soon becomes exhausted,
and falls into commissions or into a
state of lethargy, terminating in
death. Some patients become coma
tose, and die without struggle; in
others death is preceded by the dis
charge from the mouth, nose and
ears, of a dark-colored blood The
skin of most patients becomes of
bright yellow color before the black
vomit occurs. In some instances,
which terminate fatally, there is no
vomiting of black fluid at any period
of the disease
The most common symptoms are
-
the swelling of the glands of the arm
pits and groin-and swelling of pa
rotid glands-the glands below and
before the ears. In some, the men
tai and bodily powers are not at all
repaired. Thus persons have been
known to die of the disease, who,
until the moment of death, have
walked about and attended to their
ordinary avocations."