The Wilmingtonian., 1884-09-13
HEALTH HINTS.
FOR The WmMINaroNrAN.


iio NSiJ httiib VI oioup hitiOu WIN
every possible element of terror and pain in
mothers mind. Although an uncommon
disease-(we are here speaking of true Group
it 50 seldom that recovery occurs, even under
the most skillful trea tment, that the most
sanguine of practitioners, called to treat case
which has too frequently passed beyond the
control of medicine, will be very guarded
in his prognosis.
Setting apart from consideration the num-
erous instances ia which Diphtheria runs on
so as TO involve the larynx and air passages,
we find the disease to which the term Group
is properly applied to present the following |
symptons:-A brief premonitory tack of |
catarrh, with all the symptoms of common
cold in the chest. The child is then seized,
quite suddenly and almost always in the
night, with difficulty of breathing, coming
on in spasms and accompanied with ar inging
brassy cough. In the morning there is a
decided aggravaton Of the symptoms, and
every now and then long inspiration hav-
ing the sound of the growing of a young
rooster-once heard it cannot be mistaken.
1t is easily distinguished from Whooping
congh by the suddenness and severity of the
attack as well as by the frequent recurrence
of the spasms The only chance of life is
based ON the PARENTS submitting the case
at the earliest moment to the care of nedi-
cal man. Every minute lost is chance
thrown away
Ii the symptoms are disregarded or do hot
yield to treatment the intervals between the
spasms diminish till the child is constantly
fighting for breath; its struggles become
terrible to witness, and, the air tubes being
finally closed by a false membrane thrown
off by the inflammation, it speedily dies
in commissions or with all the appearance of
strangulation.
The following history ola case of acute
Group which came under the writer's notice
may be taken as a typical illustration
The child, aged three years, had been
under treatment some months previously for
whooping cough and had made what seemed
to be complete recovery. The father,
whose avocation called him away from home
at night, had noticed during the early even
ing some Wheeling and difficulty of
breathing which he attributed to slight
cold, and left home recommending the
mother to put a mustard plaster on the little
: ones chest which she promised to do but
did not do. In the morning when the man
returned he found the mother self-accusing,
alarmed and anxious. The child had woken
suddenly, and "crowed" loudly, turning
quite red in the face, and there had been
several spells of the same kind a fter sunrise.
The mother was an ignorant woman, but
she felt an anxiety she could not account
for. The husband was an intelligent me-
chanie and glance at tho child aroused the
worst fears The mother and 'wsewoman'
Cher neighbor)proposed to administer quack
specific Which fever failed, never, no never.
: But the husband, without tasting his break
fast hurried off for medical aid. By this
\ time the remissions between the paroxsyms
7 were reduced to a quarter of an hour CT
u twenty minutes; the child was past mortal
! aid. When seen at 8 il. m. the false men,
brane had evidently commenced to form.
!. The most active treatment with tartarized
Il antimony and warm baths failed to give any
= relief. At Sp. M, only seventeen hours
" after the commencement of the crOupal
L symptoms, the child was dead. He was an
a exceedingly bright prccocious little fellow
n and fought hard with the cruel foe which
i had set its grasp on his throat. A more ter.
rible spectacle than the struggles of the
d last three hours it would be impossible te
1t describe. When death finally took place
e tho face and lips were quite purple, ant
N CONSEQUENCES had been abolished by the
IL circulation Of unaGrated blood in the brain
d Here was case in which life might un
e doubtedly have been saved had the mothe
he possessed the fathers intelligence and sen
N for the physician on the first symptoms
Unhappiy women do not always realize til,
he value Of time, where the feeble strength of
r. child is pitted against the advances of til,
4 King of Terrors. They too often send fv
the physician when the undertaken nigh
d" have been summoned just as we'll.
" True, all cases of Group do not run 8,
: rapid course as this Death may be pro
: tracted for two, three, four or even six days
'o But the fact remains that there is no disease
:, not even consumption, 50 fatal, so insidious
: and so trcacherous as Group. 1t Offer
" comes on without any premonitory symp
toms whatever, and a first attack predis
" poses to others, almost equally dangerous
=, liability to which es not cease for scvera
y years.
:" 1t is very rare after the twelfth year, o
even a ter the seventh.
In child which has died of Group W,
i pretty uniformly find thick whitish
:, membrane lining the windpipe from it
upper portion right down to the region
!, where the tube branches off into the lungs
!, The narrow chink in the larynx is Otter
i completely sealed, so that the child die
i literally and truly for want of breath. Ii
i other cases the inhammatory process extends
!, into the lungs themselves. This more fire
I, quently occurs when Group complicate
N meases-an event always to be regarded
n with apprehension.
: There is a disease Stimulating Group which
rs also attacks children and not unfrequently
proves fatal, though by no means to the
te same extent as in the true disease. 1t ii
known as Llryngismus Stridulus or false
II Group. Here we have the same spasmodit
a attacks of dyspea or difficulty of breathing
and some times signs of the whoop or crow.
"a ing sound, but there is no fever or sign Of
of Inflammation within the chest The treat.
g ment consists in freely opening the bowels
v by aperients, relieving the nervous system
q and where the spasmndic closure of the glot-
e tbs threatens sutfocation, dashing cold water