_Treatment._—It is sometimes possible to abort a boil by dipping a
sharpened wooden match or a toothpick into pure carbolic acid and
thrusting it repeatedly into the heart of the swelling. If the boil has
somewhat developed hot fomentations and moist dressings should be applied
and iodine should be painted on the skin round the boil. As a rule it
is wiser not to open a boil, even when it has suppurated. It is best
to let it burst and then to dress it carefully with a boric poultice,
which should be frequently changed. Treatment with vaccines has come
into vogue and is sometimes very helpful. Sulphide of calcium pills, one
grain in each, three times a day, are often given and are said to have
a prophylactic effect, but a preparation known as stannoxyl and used in
the form of tablets is to be preferred. The usual dose is four tablets
the first day, six the second, and eight on subsequent days. The drug
is somewhat constipating. A remedy more easily obtained and which is
said to be distinctly beneficial is dilute sulphuric acid. It should be
taken in doses of twenty to thirty drops, well diluted, every four hours.
The general health requires attention and lemon juice, plenty of green
vegetables and tonics should be taken.
_Carbuncles._—A carbuncle is of the same nature as a boil, but is a more
serious complaint, and it is distinguished from a boil by the fact that
it opens by several mouths.
To promote ripening of the carbuncle and the separation of the core or
dead piece of tissue, poultices and hot fomentations should be freely
applied, and if the core can be seen it should be removed, if possible,
by a pair of forceps.
To facilitate removal of the core it is sometimes advisable to cut
through the skin separating the openings; there may be some slight
bleeding, but it will cease after a short time.
Opium may be given to relieve acute suffering. The bowels should be kept
well open. A generous diet must be given; tonics of iron, quinine and
arsenic are needed, and alcohol may prove necessary.
Carbuncles rarely appear except in people much broken down in health, and
their presence is an indication that the sufferer should return to his
own country and seek skilled advice.
_Chigger._—The chigger is not itself a disease but is a sand-flea
producing a condition known by the long name of dermatophiliasis. It is
a veritable pest in parts of South America and all over tropical Africa.
The insect is like the common flea but smaller, lives in dry sandy soil
and sucks the blood of mammals, especially pigs. After impregnation the
female burrows into the skin of a mammal or bird, and, nourished by
blood, proceeds to ovulation. Her abdomen becomes filled with ripe eggs
and enormously distended till it looks like a small pea. Eventually the
eggs escape through the opening of the skin and hatch into larvæ which in
due time become adult fleas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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