The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-10-13


screw chains" Il Is a delicate organ
ism easily killed by heat, for II has
not the power Of forming resistant
spores. On the other hand Il can re-
main alive and capable of yirulence In
the water for some time. 1t is inn
mediately killed by boiling. Yet so
contradictory is medical opinion on
the subject Of the treatment of cholera
that the question whether the disease
can really be cured is still open. Here,
for example, Is one expert medical
view Of the true and new" mode Of
dealing with a cholera patient, given
in the London Lancet:
Cholera as a disease manifests IT,
self by violent pains in the bowels,
accompanied by terrific vomiting and
diarrhoea. In these efforts of the
system to throw off the bacilli great
quantities OF moisture are needed, so
that a person looking hearty and hale
when taken sick will, in a few hours,
present the appearance of one in the
last stages Of consumption. His body
is wasted away, his eyes are sunk into
his head, and he may have lost twenty
five or more pounds through the sap
ping of the moisture from his body,
but still death will often result from
exhaustion and heart failure To meet
these conditions the local doctors Tin
the Holland epidemic) resorted to
hypodermic injections of a physiolo-
gical salt solution up to quantities of
several quarts a day. The effect of
this mild salt solution is not only
replacing of the moisture which the
system has lost, but a direct stimula-
ton of the heart, and also an indirect
stimulation of the heart, and also an
indirect stimulation of the heart by
diluting the blood and thus reducing
friction. The marvellous reduction of
the death-rate resulting from this
treatment is shown by the figures"
Definite asthese statements are and
high as seems the authority upon
which they are based-the data being
fresh and based upon the experience
gained mostly in Rotterdam-the as
sertion is made categorically in the
French hospitals that no cure of pal
liative treatment has proved itself
availing. In the words of an Ella
borate study of cholera which we find
in The British Medical Journal:
For those actually suffering from
cholera little can generally be done;
nearly all die. Among well-marked
cases probably not more than two or
three per cent recover. In the main
they must be so treated as to be of as
little danger to others as possible, and
must take what small chance they
have The disease is so rapid that
very little can be done to stay it's
course in the individual case. But
for those not yet infected certain sim
pie and obvious precautions would, if
they could be carried out, practically
do away with danger Drinking wa
ter, the great vehicle of infection, can
even if contaminated, be made safe by
boiling; infected clothing and bedding
may be burned or boiled, and its dan
gers come to an end. Hands may al
ways be washed and effectually dis
infected, and even the personal at
tendants on cholera patients run the
very smallest risk if they are suii-
GENTLY disciplined never to relax their
precautions. Unfortunately, it is next
to impossible to see that even such
simple methods as these are carried
out among crowded and ignorant popu-
lations, and the disease must often
wear itself out in an infected po-
pulation by the destruction of the
more susceptible or by the coming of
the rains and the flushing out of the
water tanks.
There seems some promise of sue
cess from serum treatment, not of the
diseased persons, but here again the
difficulty of numbers and the opposi-
ton Of ignorace are likely to prove
insuperable as obstacles to any large
degree Of success. There is no prob
ability that cholera will ever be stamp
ed out by such methods as these"
Cholera, unfortunately, is one of the
water borne diseases" and it spreads
chiefly by means of river basins. Ex-
listing at all times in either an active
or latent form i'm the far east and
especially in India, it periodically be-
comes epidemic, passing down the
great rivers. Fresh areas are affect
ed by mild "ambulatory" cases in
much the same way I'm which smallpox
is often carried to new centers and a
fresh focus for the epidemic spread
of the disease is thus created. From
the south 1t spreads to central Asia,