Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-08-29
TONS|L DISEASES
stunt CHILDREN
Georgia Health Board Describes Ter
rible Results of Disease if Not
Properly Treated.

Atlanta, Calf one of your chill
dren is backward in its studies o.
sickly looking, get a physician to lool
at it's tonsils at once, is the advice
given by the Georgia State Board O.
Health. The whole trouble may bt
there. A chronic or acute disease Of
the tonsils is serious and dangerous
thing.
The enlarged tonsils may permanent
ly stunt the child's physical growth
and retard its mental development
The State Board of Health urges pa
rents whose children are so suffering
to have them examined and operated
on, if necessary, by skilled physi'
clan or surgeon. Operations in near
ly all cases result in complete cures,
while failure to operate may leave an
| otherwise normal child stupid and
sickly through life.
Many a boy or girl has been put
down as lazy and "good-for-nothing, "
and has been unjustly punished at
home and at school, when the real
trouble was nothing but enlarged ton
sils.
Other children suffering in the same
way have sometimes been considered
half-witted because of the open-hang-
ing mouth and silly expression, which
often results from the INSTRUCTED pass
| ages in the throat and nose-their
whole life marred for the lack of a
comparatively simple operation. The
parent who fails to inquire into such
symptoms and to have the child prop
erly treated, is guilty of neglect that
| is almost criminal
Is a Contagious Disease.
The second most important thing
| for the public to realize about tonsili-
! tbs, says the Board, is the fact that
acute tonsilitis is contagious, and that
| patients suffering from it should be
isolated and some precautions taken
to prevent it's spread, as are done in
case of other contagious diseases. One
case of acute tonsilitis may not justi-
fly an operation 1t is in chronic cases
or in cases where the acute form re-
ours frequently, that operations are
absolutely necessary.
In addition to the acute and chronic,
there is also a third common form Of
litis or quinsy.
Acute tonsilitis frequently comes on
rather suddenly. Children and young
adults are most susceptible. The pa
tient may first complain of sore throat
with feeling of swelling in the throat,
or may first feel chilly or even have
decided chill, soon followed by ach-
ing of the limbs and back and violent
headache. These symptoms may be SO
severe that the patient may feel like
he is going to have very serious ill
ness. The temperature rapidly rises
and may reach 103 degrees to los de-
grees within a very few hours The
odor of the patients breath is very
foul, and unless the room is well ven
tilated the odor may fill the room. An
examination of the throat shows the
tonsils and neighboring tissues to be
swollen and congested. The tonsils
may be so greatly swollen as to touch
each other, and they may be covered
by a grayish substance that may re-
semble the membrane which is pres
ent in cases of diphtheria. The glands
in the neck usually become swollen
and painful, and the neck muscles feel
sore and stiff.
Symptoms of Qunsy.
In suppurative tonsilitis, or quinsy,
the local symptoms in the throat cause
the greatest amount of distress, al
though the general symptoms named
above may also be present In quinsy,
pus forms in and around the tonsil.
Usually only one tonsil is affected. 1t
may become greatly swollen and seri-
ously interfere with the patient s
breathing and his ability to swallow.
The patient opens his mouth with con-
siderable difficulty as every movement
of the jaw causes great pain. In quin-
sy the tonsil is seldom covered by the
membrane as in the follicular form
or as in diphtheria Instead the tonsil
is usually smooth and shining in ap-
pearance.
In acute tonsilitis and in quinsy a
archaeological examination should be
made of the throat and the patient
kept in isolation, until it is determin-
ed whether or not the inflammation is
caused by the germ of diphtheria. The
State Board of Health's laboratories
will make these examinations free Of
charge upon request.
In the chronic form of tonsilitis,
there is no danger of spreading the
disease, but 1t is this form which per-
manently Injuries the health and mind
of the patient. Children are the most
frequent sufferers. The tonsils some
times become so large that they touch
each other; there is usually nasal ca
tarrh, sometimes earache and deaf
ness; the child usually breathes with
its mouth open. This not only gives
the child a silly expression, but is
harmful because air taken through the
mouth instead of the nose is not prop
erly sifted of dust and germs. The
nose fails to develop and its small
ness adds to the stupid expression of