Observations on typhus : abridged from an essay submitted to the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1840 / by Andrew Anderson.

  • Anderson, Andrew, 1818-1870.
Date:
[1840]
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Credit: Observations on typhus : abridged from an essay submitted to the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1840 / by Andrew Anderson. 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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    which had it not, and those in which it could not be ascertained to be present or absent. During the year from October 1837 to November 1838, we had admitted-^ ioi;iu ^. fh rron he^ ^'^Posed to Contagion. Eruptive, - - 1,865 ' 907 - per cent. 48.6 ^SQbRO to Doubtful, - - 143 49 - — 34.2 [iJloiooq , Non-Eruptive, - 344 110 - — 31.9 ao Ylinonpoit Jaom 'luooo , ——.mm isMiim<M« ^noiegOK! ■ v v^p,)*, ,~Yy.v(crrt _p.>c--, 2,352 1,066--^ r-^- ^T•.>-,^.^^4S.3;■r.^ 4:.-,n * Nearly one-half of the cases, therefore, hadT)een exposed to contagion; but of those decidedly eruptive, a greater proportion than of others. How far other causes besides contagion influence individuals, is more difficult to be ascertained; since the attack may or may not have been the consequence of the antecedent exposure. The following Table ex- hibits the result of my enquiries as to the influence on the propagation of typhus, of the causes more commonly originative of febrile com- plaints. Of 828 cases admitted in 1838, one-fourth (or 207) attributed their complaint to cold, exposure, or fatigue, in the following propor- ^^^^•rnfiGdli , :w rioiJioqoiq airid ^silinom xia jgiit odi m i^di vaa„.aimb« % ^^^^^ orU&'^'^ J* '^'^^'^ 01J3 enoxgexral: Fatigue alone, - ~ 'H «6S.R0 W Oiirfw jjgOJfiOl^ BBW >tos^s.m 8d.t 0 Wet, - . . :4ijirofn dsjso 'loi era>8a oili xbmoa ^Cf iSiSm dl ,oif Sudden changes of weather,{j ot l^OUOtrpOT^ niL^Oli-IOqoiq 81 '207' ' If, then, we suppose that in all these cases the exposure was really causative of the disease, we have it so in one-fourth of the cases; but we ought from the 207 to subtract 93 cases, in which there was expo- sure to contagion besides that to cold or fatigue: this leaves 114, or nearly one-seventh of the whole number; while we have seen above, that exposure to contagion took place in nearly one-half; about 2i sevenths then remain, in which the patient could assign no probable cause for the attack. , :i ; ? / Of the same 828 cases, 415 (or about one-half) attributed their seizure to exposure to contagion; of this number ■cdu i *ujj Q29, or three-fourths, had lived in the same hous6^t»Wd ' ' ^ UinbjSlg (J 4 in the same ward with affected persons. ■ BYrodc noitquio e»ili63 neighbours so affected, -/ ^ ^i^ Ioi,' i[ tur Jji nP/^dT q 770^^ visited a patient, or received the vi^^lti^f a convalescent. fyT;vf^ Hence we find that the great majority of those whose disease arose from contagion had been in constant intercourse with affected persons. The report of the patients was, of course; of uncertain value in de- ciding whether the person from whom they supposed they had caught the disease had also the eruption; but of the 415, nearly one-fourth (or 114) stated that such was the case.;is a mucl^ greater nimi- ber than might have been anticipatediiov/ feilu? . ! >:L^I7^J^I(>i : - • > The Invasion and Symptoms.—How does Typhus usually begin? Observation as to the date of occurrence of the symptoms in above 60 cases, gave the fi)llowing results:— The invasion of the disease is sudden in above half the cases. Of the symptoms noticed in my tables, those which occur in less than half the cases are nausea, pectoral oppression, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea; pectoral oppression and diarrhoea being those most rarely