The diagnostics and treatment of tropical diseasesStitt, E. R. (Edward Rhodes)
Science
The diagnostics and treatment of tropical diseases
Stitt, E. R. (Edward Rhodes)
Tropical medicine
The extensor surfaces of the forearms, thighs and buttocks are also
favorite sites for the indurated spots. The palms of the hands,
soles of the feet, hairy scalp, groin and axillary regions are
almost never attacked.
These spots may be hyperaesthetic at first but soon show loss
of pain and temperature sense with retention of touch sensation
(dissociation of sensation). These spots do not sweat, they remain
dry even in a general perspiration.
Following successive febrile accessions and reappearances of spots we
have developed reddish-brown nodular masses, usually on the sites of
the spots.
When the nodules are grasped between the fingers one usually finds
them elastic to touch. As the result of active sebaceous secretion
these nodules have a greasy appearance.
These protruding nodules may give the face a leonine appearance,
hence the name leontiasis, or that of a satyr, hence satyriasis. With
the development of the nodules the hair falls out of the eyebrows and
bearded face. Nodules develop in the mucous membranes of the nose,
mouth and larynx, giving rise to foetid discharges and obstruction of
the nares, difficulty in mastication as well as in breathing and a
raucous voice.
The eye is involved with frightful frequency in this form of
leprosy, there being infiltrations of the eyelids, conjunctivae,
cornea and iris, with subsequent ulcerations and loss of sight.
The nodules on face, backs of hands, buttocks, etc., may disappear
by resolution but the tendency is for them to ulcerate and produce
various contractions and deformities.
[Illustration: FIG. 78.—Nodular leprosy. Advanced stage with
ulceration. Leontiasis. (Van Harlingen.)]
The glands in the region of the lesions become enlarged but do not
tend to suppurate.
Visceral involvements are not common but serious lesions of the liver
have been reported.
The course of the disease is essentially chronic and if some
intercurrent affection does not carry off the patient, the end
comes in a cachexia in about ten years, the temperature gradually
falling and a state of somnolence ushering in the end.
When nerve leprosy sets in upon a nodular type the life of the
patient seems to be prolonged.
Nerve Leprosy
_A Typical Case._—The prodromal manifestations are characterized
by the results of irritation of the granulomatous tissue upon the
nerve fibers and are chiefly neuralgic pains or signs of sensory
disturbances as formication, paraesthesias, etc. In particular, are
the ulnar, peroneal and facial nerves attacked, the process very
rarely extending above the knee or elbow.
[Illustration: FIG. 79.—Nerve leprosy. Perforating ulcer of the
foot. (U. S. Naval Medical Bulletin.)]
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