Evening star., 1912-11-24

Some of us are still old-fashionet
enough to make use of the danserou
phrase Catching cold without clothing
the cold in apologetic quotation marks o.
accenting the catching. While most med
ical pra actioners now recognize that cory Zs
is a bacterial infection, a goodly minority
insist that exposure to the weather i:
sine qua non of one and all respirato
infections. This tradition is as old a:
the history of medicine, but age doe;
not always mean truth. Hippocrates anc
Galen erred just enough to prove theil
humanity.
A victim of chronic nasal catarrh o
even the mildest grade. SO mild that ht
does not bother to seek treatment, ma!
and frequently does suffer an acute eX-
acerbation with every change of temper
ature or humidity; the same is true OF
the patient with chronic bronchitis. But
that weather conditions of any kind are
capable of setting up an acute coryza In
a normal nose is difficult, IL not impossi-
BILE to prove. The practical point is thai
whatever predisposing factors may bs
necessary to prepare the soil for infec-
ton, these factors are certainly not oil
ferent in the case of coryZa from those
which favor diphthe1ia. For this rea-
lection of handkerchiefs and nasal secre.
tions in every instance of coryZa, togeth-
er with reasonable isolation of the pa
tient, particularly If it be in a child
AS a matter of established fact. GER
tain proportion of apparently simple
coryzas are in reality nasal dipththeria
While the child may not seem In danger
at any time. the infectiousness or the
diphtheria is none the less a menace to
the childs associates. Were disnfection
Aa6 of fhn ,,v,t
versal omission. very prolific source OF
sporadic diphtheria epidemics might be
thus eradicated.
Modern advances in our knowledge OF
the hacteriology of the nose and throa,
preclude the justice Of looking upon any
acute coryza as simple One never
knows, especially in children, whether the
outcome will be serious or even fatal;
otitis media. mastoiditis. sinusitis. cere-
bral abscess or other surgical complica-
And another reason should make us
wary about joking over simple cold
in-the-head" whether it sbe a micro
cocus catarrhalis rhinitis. pneumococ-
Gus rhinitis, a bacillus influenzae rhinitis
or a nasal diphtheria. no man can tell in
the beginning.
When we enumerate the serious condi-
tions which have been found to depend
upon the microbe of pneumonia infection.
our respect for coryZa is apt to enlarge.
Among IHeIu are COTyLd, SINUS
middle ear abscess, meningitis, bronchitis.
tonsilitis and quinsy. pneumonia, empy-
ema. pericarditis and endocarditis, ap-
pendicitis and peritonitis, and even null
tiple arthritis. Each has been definitely
proved to be a pneumococcus Infection
occa asionally. Is it not possible that our
failure to employ disinfection and isoia-
ton in the treatment OF coryza may eX-
plain at least share of these infec-
tions? In other words when an lndivid-
ual catches cold can We predict the
outcome?
Whatever may be our individual opin-
ions regarding contributing or predispos-
ing factors. there can no longer be any
doubt that the indoor plague Is infec-
tious. The necessity for reasonable iso-
lation and disinfection in every case Of
coryza is therefore manifest. The eco
nomic saving possible to effect by a
campaign against the indoor plague is
beyond computation. A moments
thought will convince one that coryza,
with its various complications and Sc
quellae, probably costs the community
more than dfphtheta and pneumonia