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
Cholesterin has been given in 15-grain doses in suspension in thick
milk every four hours with the idea that it is anti-haemolytic. The
dose is repeated 2 or 3 times.
Calomel in large doses has been recommended by some tropical
practitioners but it would seem advisable only to use calomel to
keep the bowels open and then in small divided doses.
Antipyretics should not be used from their depressing action on the
heart.
For the urinary suppression, Wallace recommends salines as hot
as can be borne, administered high in the colon by a double-flow
tube. Since he found this treatment effective after intravenous and
rectal injections had failed, it is to be inferred that the results
obtained were due not to the further administration of fluid but to
the action of heat applied directly to the splanchnic area.
CHAPTER III
THE TRYPANOSOMIASES
DEFINITION AND SYNONYMS
=Definition.=—African trypanosomiasis is an important protozoal
disease of Central and West Africa, due to a flagellate, _Trypanosoma
gambiense_, and transmitted by a tsetse fly, _Glossina palpalis_.
The trypanosome undergoes a developmental cycle in the fly which
does not become infective until after about twenty days. The period
of incubation is about two or three weeks, after which an irregular
fever with approximately normal morning temperature and high evening
rise appears, attended with a rapid pulse rate at all times. This is
called the stage of trypanosome fever and may show trypanosomes in
the peripheral blood. Later on the glands enlarge and gland juice
shows trypanosomes. With the appearance of a fine tremor of the
tongue, a state of apathy or lethargy, known as sleeping sickness,
sets in, attended with trypanosomes in the cerebro-spinal fluid.
Gradually increasing mental deterioration marks the almost invariable
course to death. A more virulent type of trypanosomiasis is found in
Rhodesia.
In Brazil there is a disease caused by a flagellate,
_Schizotrypanum cruzi_, which resembles a trypanosome and is
transmitted by a bug, _Lamus megistus_. The disease runs an acute
course with a high fever and great mortality in infants showing
chiefly manifestations of involvement of brain or thyroid gland. In
adults it runs a chronic course showing neurological manifestations
or signs of myxoedema or even of Addison’s disease.
=Synonyms.=—Sleeping sickness; Negro lethargy. French: Maladie du
sommeil. German: Schlafkrankheit. For the Brazilian trypanosomiasis,
Schizotrypanosomiasis; Chagas’ disease.
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
=History.=—In describing sleeping sickness, in 1803, Winterbottom
brought out the importance of enlargements of the posterior
cervical glands (Winterbottom’s sign).
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