The administrative treatment of undefined cases certified as scarlet fever / by Frederick Dittmar, and John Brownlee .. late and present assistant medical officers in charge of the City of Glasgow fever hospital, Kennedy Street.

  • Dittmar, Frederick.
Date:
[1897?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The administrative treatment of undefined cases certified as scarlet fever / by Frederick Dittmar, and John Brownlee .. late and present assistant medical officers in charge of the City of Glasgow fever hospital, Kennedy Street. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    UNDEFINED CASES CERTIFIED AS SCARLET FEVER. IcJ this commuoication we intend giving an account of the management of the undefined cases admitted to the City of Glasgow Fever Hospital, Kennedy-street, from November, 1895, to November, 1896. Prior to the former date there was no arrangement for the special observa- tion of cases of this nature. The hospital, which is exclusively employed for the treatment of scarlet fever, consists of fourteen wards built on the pavilion system and has accommodation for about 320 patients. The pavilion chosen for the purpose of isolation consists of three divisions separated one from another by brick partitions which extend from fl.oor to ceiling, while each division has a separate com- munication with the outside. Two of them have a capacity of 16,500 cubic feet each, and the third of 8000 cubic feet. The last has also separate latrine accommodation and bathroom. The patients sent to the pavilion were of three classes : (1) cases in which the appearances on admission did not justify a positive diagnosis of scarlet fever ; (2) cases where the symptoms and appearances suggested some other disease—e g., tonsillitis or non-specific erythema ; and (3) cases of undoubted illness where the symptoms were obscure, but suggestive of some other infectious disease— e.g., enteric fever. Cases in which some other infectious disease was frankly present were immediately transferred to the Belvidere Fever Hospital without admission to the wards. The two larger divisions were used for the first two classes, and the smallest division for the third class of cases. The whole pavilion was under the supervision of a very careful and experienced charge nurse whose powers of observation could be relied on, while each division had its special staff of day and night nurses. During their residence in the ward the patients were carefully observed for signs of scarlet fever, the urine being examined twice daily for albumin and evidence of desquamation carefully looked for. As soon as desquama- tion became definite or scarlet fever complications showed themselves the patient was transferred to a scarlet fever