El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-22

1 lf OllOWlnS Is the substance OIL d pa
per read recently before the FL Paso
! County Medical society by DR.. BurlesOn
Staten and published at the request of
| the society.1
| A case of hydrophobia which has re-
| Gently occurred in my practice has es-
/ pecially stirred the community into just /
| Indignation at the IaXneSs of the dog
| laws and the lack of enforcement of .
the laws that we have The case was
/ a little boy nine years of age-Warren
Blakey of 406 Arizona street He was I
an only child, and few people would |
contend that had all the dogs in Ell |
| Paso been killed to save this child it !
| would have been unjustifiable.
On Ma<eh 10 his mother brought him |
| to, my office to have me dress and sew !
! up dog bite on his upper lip. 1t was |
a clean cut wound, as though made /
| With razor. l Y inch long, near the /
angle of his mouth. The skin and mus !
| Giles were all laid open down to the /
mucous lining of the mouth. 1t had /
| bled freely, as shown by his clothing /
| and handkerchief. No idea was enter /
tanned that the dog which had bitten /
him was mad" 1 dressed the wound {
more to prevent septic Infection than (
hydrophobia, using bichloride 1 to 1000, |
pure peroxide of hydrogen, and per- |
manganatef of potash in strong solution (
successfully. Then, closed the wound |
with skin clips and it healed promptly /
by first intention. This the only |
bite the child had received.
How Wound Was Received.
He and his mother stated that he had /
been playing in the street with several !
boys and his own young bulldog when
the Mexican freshman passed with his !
little spotted dog following the wagon.
This dog and the bulldog began play
ing, but the Blakey dog was too rough /
so the other commenced to fight and Z
10 hn1 RI hir0 vUh q
pulled his dog off Then the Mexican
dog, in attacking his dog, bit Warren |
on the lip. The bulldog and the boys
with rocks attacked the Mexican dog,
which ran off bowling with his tail be- !
tween his legs in a perfectly natural I
way. There was no froth in his mouth, /
no fits, nor any unnatural action on the /
part of the dog. Also the mother told .
me later that she had seen the same lit |
tie spotted dog a week later following !
the same trash wagon past her home, /
but this must have been a different /
dog. The Mexican has not been there :
since for. trash nor has anyone been
able to locate him. About a month be- !
fore the BIakey boy was bitten 1 had
another patient bitten by puppy,
which had been bitten by a stray cur, /
probably mad. The puppy subsequently, |
was said to have gone mad, but this
puppy unfortunately was killed by I,
veteriparian so that the diagnosis could |
not be confirmed. This patient 1 rushed /
off at once to the PasteUr institute and |
he has escaped hydrophobia. The
Biakey bulldog is not known to have
been bitten and is well and alive,
though kept chained in comfortable
quarters under observation.
The 2Sth Day.
On April II, at p. m, which was ex-
actly the twenty eighth day after being
bitten, Warren Blakey became i'll He
had rather high fever and was nauseated
though apparently unusually well and
hilarious previously. His mother gave
him a dose of oil the next morning and
kept him lying around the house ana
back porch on cot in the wind as his
fever continued high He ate little,
but drank much water until in the night
of the day after he became i'll Ii e., IN
80 hours). when it was noticed that he
swallowed with pain and difficulty,
but this was ascribed to a sore throat
due to his having lain in the wind that
day His fever had subsidized and he
seemed otherwise better, SO L was not
called until the morning of the third
day l found a hunted looking little
creature with a wild look in his eyes
due TO dilated pupils and animated with
extreme excitement at times, but con-
stantly very nervous and frequently
taking deep breaths. He had not slept !
for two nights and the second night
the wisdom Of a grown man, thereby
showing cerebral excitation- He com
planned of being very thirsty, yet when
offered drink food would become
very excited over the anticipation Of
swallowing, and when he would make
the effort to swallow he seemed chok-
ing because of the spasms of the throat
muscles of deglutition- Following this
would come an attack of extreme
dyspnoea. during which he would jump
up and toss his arms into the air or
claw at his throat in his struggles for
breath Then he would become more
quiet and lie painting in the bed. This
excitement was partly exaggerated by
the fact that he suspected that his
parents feared hydrophobia because he
could not drink.
Initial Symptom.
There had been no pain q { the site or
the bite nor any prodromal symptoms
noticed: however, his extra enthusiasm
noticed in play was the initial symptom.
When l saw him the child was very
irritable and complained Of his mother (
talking too loudly a II his other senses
were very acute. Also he became sus-
picious of me after 7 attempted 10 give
him an hypodermic to quiet him, and
would become almost violent when /
would return TO the room There was
some huskiness of voice and the fauCeS
was red and congested. Every effort at
inspection of the throat with a spoon
placed on the tongue produced violent |
gagging and vomiting. Eui 1t should
be noted here that This child had Al
ways been subject to tonsil-tts and IN
the other attacks 1 had experienced |
great difficulty in examining his throat
and also that he had always been 4
very nervous child, so thIt there x&S a
clear possibility of bysterja md evil
IDENTIFY some lyssophobia. or fear of hy
drophObia, as this dread of the disease
is called
The Second StuEe.
With the beginning Of the second
stage of the disease, called the stage of
excitement Though the premonitory |
stage also showed much excitement in
this case), the saliva became profuse
and frothy from the intermittent strict
ure by the throat muscles and was =
quite tenacious so that he experienced
difficulty in Kidding his mouth of it
even by incessent splitting in every di-
rection. He would try violently to pull