A manual of infectious diseases / by E.W. Goodall and J.W. Washbourn.

Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of infectious diseases / by E.W. Goodall and J.W. Washbourn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    WHOOPING-COUGH, PERTUSSIS. directly from patient to patient, but there is reason to believe that the virus may be harboured in fomites. Age.—Though no age is absolutely exempt from whooping-cough, yet it is essentially a children's disease, most of the cases being met with in children under seven years of age. The incubation period is variable, five to fourteen days. Clinical History.—The course of the disease may be divided into two stages, the catarrhal and the par- oxysmal. The catarrhal stage.—The attack begins insidiously. The child is out of sorts, has slight pyrexia, and a dry, harsh cough. Examination of the chest reveals the presence of bronchitis. This stage lasts about ten days (but it may be of longer or shorter duration), and then the characteristic paroxysmal cough appears. The paroxysmal stage.—The paroxysm of couehino- which is characteristic of the disease, is sometimes pre- ceded by a short period during which the child is restless and anxious. The paroxysm consists of a series of short suffocative coughs, interrupted at intervals by a crowing inspiration or whoop. As the disease progresses the paroxysms become longer and more violent, and frequently terminate by the vomiting of food and blood-stained mucus. During a severe paroxysm the child sits upright, the veins of the face and neck become distended, the face becomes swollen, and tears roll from the eyes. As many as six whoops may occur in one paroxysm. After the attack the child lies back quite exhausted. Occasionally a paroxysm begins with a deep inspiration instead of the usual short expiratory coughs. The number of paroxysms varies from ten to thirty in the twenty-four hours. From some of them the characteristic whoop may be absent,