Essays In Pastoral MedicineWalsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Religion
Essays In Pastoral Medicine
Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
First aid in illness and injury; Medicine
Ringworm is a kind of tinea, and it is caused by various mould fungi.
Tinea Tonsurans is ringworm of the scalp; Tinea Circinata is ringworm
of the body; Barber's Itch is another form; there is also a ringworm
of the finger-nails; and Pityriasis Versicolor is still another form.
All are contagious, and some are difficult to cure because the
parasite gets down between the skin and the hair-follicles and an
antiseptic can not reach it. Children affected with these diseases
should be kept away from school until they have been cured.
The presence of lice and of the Acarus Scabiei can bring about acute
and severe skin eruptions. The Acarus Scabiei causes itch, but
fortunately it is rare in America. These parasites go from person to
person, hence a child having either should be kept from school until
he is clean. A thorough washing will remove lice if they have not yet
inflamed the skin, but itch requires a more vigorous {199} treatment.
The desks of such patients should be disinfected and their clothing
should be baked. They will probably be reinfected at home if the
treatment is not applied to other members of the family.
Contagious Impetigo, or porrigo, as it was formerly called, is a skin
disease common among children, and it may affect adults. It appears to
be of parasitic origin, but the specific organism that causes it has
not been isolated. The lesions in this disease are commonly
discrete--separate one from another--but they may be crowded together.
They are vesico-pustular and they are sunken at the top in the typical
form. If they are not broken by scratching, they dry into a yellowish
crust. The disease affects only the skin, but as it is contagious a
child affected with it should be kept from school until cured. The
desk and articles used by the child should be disinfected, and his
books are to be burned.
Whooping-cough is very infectious, and, contrary to the popular
opinion, it is frequently a fatal disease. There is a period of
incubation for from seven to ten days, then a catarrhal stage follows
in which the child has the symptoms of an ordinary "cold." In about
another week the dry cough becomes paroxysmal with the characteristic
"whoop" when the air is drawn in after the fit of coughing. When there
is an epidemic of whooping-cough, children with "colds" should be sent
home from school. The objects used by a child that has whooping-cough
should be disinfected, and its books and papers are to be burnt.
Mumps can be a serious and a very painful disease and it is infectious
to a marked degree. The specific organism is not known. Boys are more
liable to this disease than girls are, and recurrence is rare. After a
period of incubation, which lasts from two to three weeks, there is
fever, pain under one ear, and the parotid gland swells. The disease
is commonly mild, but it may affect a child seriously. The patient is
to be quarantined, what it has touched should be disinfected, and its
books are to be burnt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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