Men who keep their hair short are seldom attacked, but uncleanly women often suffer, and even those who are most particular may be infected in some accidental manner, and the improbability of the affection may lead to disastrous delay in making the diagnosis. Unlike the parasite of itch, lice are true insects.
Three different varieties of lice infest the human species, distinguished name from the region with which they are associated. They are: the head louse, the body louse, and the public louse. They restrict themselves jealousy to their particular haunts, though it not infrequently happens that a single individual becomes the host of all three species. All three are remarkably fertile, and a man who becomes infected with pediculi pubis, if well covered with hair, within a week will be infested over all his hairy parts.
The body louse lives entirely, except when feeding, open the clothes, and it is here that the ova are to be found. The other two species deposit their ova, familiarly called “nits,”upon the hairs, and attach them hitherto by a tough gelatinous sheath, only soluble with difficulty in Acetic acid. The sheath can, however, be slipped along the hair easily enough, and removed in that way. It is, however, a very tedious business thus to remove nits in a severe case of infection with head lice. The head louse possess the interesting quality of varying in colour according to that of the host on which it is found.
In the case of head lice impetigo speedily becomes engrafted upon the pediculosis, and the presence of impetigo should always call for suspicion of pediculi.
The diagnosis of pediculosis depends upon the discovery of the louse, or at least of a nit.
TREATMENT.– The treatment of pediculosis is simple and satisfactory.
All that is necessary in dealing with the body louse is the most application of simple Sulphur ointment and– most important–efficient disinfection of infected garments or bed- clothes by boiling or fumigation.
In treating the head louse it is seldom or never necessary to cut the hair. The adult insects are speedily killed by the application of the ammoniated Mercury ointment of the British Pharmacopoeia. The nits may be removed with a fine comb after the hair has been washed with spirits of wine. It is wise to bathe the area of infection daily for a period with a lotion of Biniodide of Mercury (one part to two thousand of water).
226.–Scabies–Itch.
DEFINITION.– A contagious eruption of the skin caused by the burrowing of a minute parasite– Sarcoptes hominis or Acarus scabii. It is not a true insect, but is an arachnid, and so is allied to the spiders.
The female Sarcoptes can be seen readily with the naked eye, and has a pearly white colour. It is only the female which penetrates beneath the skin and makes the burrows which are characteristic of the infection.
These mites produce troublesome and distressing eruptions in the folds where the skin is most delicate, as in the web between the fingers and toes, the backs of the hands, the armpits, and the front of the abdomen. The head and the face are rarely involved. The rash is most commonly of a papular and vesicular character, and intensely itchy, especially in the warmth of bed.
TREATMENT.– The treatment of scabies is simple and satisfactory. From time immemorial Sulphur has been used successfully for this complaint, and there is no reason to seek other means.
The great principle of the treatment is to act energetically and to discontinue the treatment promptly.
The Patient should have a hot bath, and for adults a quarter of an ounce of Sulphurated potash should be added for every gallon of water. All regions liable to be the seat of burrows should be scrubbed thoroughly with soap and water. Sulphur ointment is then rubbed well in, and plastered on. The same process should be repeated on the following evening. The patient preferably wears old clothes covered with Sulphur, and in the meantime the original garments are disinfected by baking or boiling. The bed clothes must no be forgotten.
In many districts there are now arrangements for the treatment of the scabies at the public expense. The patient is supplied with a sulphur bath and ointment and his clothes are disinfected while he is bathing.
After forty-eight hours treatment the scabies should be cured. Persistence with Sulphur will only lead to a rash, which has often been ascribed to persistence of the scabies.
Stavesacre ointment may be used effectively, has no offensive smell and causes no skin rash.
227.–Irritation caused by Stinging Insects and Plants.
The most common insect-stings and bites are those of the Wasp, Bee, hornet, Gnat, and Mosquito. These, though painful, are not serious, except when a tender part, or sensitive or important organ of the body, is attacked; or when the multiplicity of the wounds is so great as to produce general or venomous symptoms. Thus a man has been stung to death in a short time by as warm of bees; when the eye is stung the consequences are liable to be serious; and a sting in the pharynx, as from swallowing a piece of honeycomb with a bee concealed therein, may be very dangerous. Spiders, tarantulas, and centipedes may all give dangerous bites which may end in erysipelas or other septic conditions; and mosquitoes, bugs, gnats, midges, ticks, and various flies, quite apart form their danger as transmitters of specific disease, may cause very irritating bites, which in themselves or by subsequent contamination, may lead to serious consequences.
In India and other hot countries, various other insects, besides the mosquito, attack, man, and are sources of irritation and annoyance; ” for every animal, insect or reptile, in the warmer lands, is distinguished for its ferocity, and pugnaciousness.” The ant, especially the black ant, and the cockroach, are common and troublesome– the latter especially on board ship. It attacks the toes of persons asleep, and this so insidiously that the sleeper is not awake until the quick is reached and the blood flows. The eyebrows, as well as the toe-nails, are also liable to suffer, unless protected. ” There is a small black-beetle in India, found in the short grass and herbage, which is dangerous to persons lying on the ground, as it attempts, if possible, to enter the ear. Children are frequently attacked by it, and the agony caused is extreme. The only effectual remedy, and it is effectual, is to pour a little oil into the ear, which so disgusts the beetle that it backs out, leaving the person uninjured. Such, however, would not be the case if force should be attempted in the extraction.”
Nettle-stings, and those of other plants, do not cause much disturbance besides the local irritation.
TREATMENT.– Ledum Palustre is the most useful remedy for common stings and bites. It should be applied locally, in a diluted form– twenty drops of the tincture to half a wine-glass of water. Should Ledum not be at hand, Rhus or lime-water may be substituted. If neither of these remedies be available, Allium Cepa (the common onion) should be promptly applied; a piece cut off and at once placed on the wound, or a little weak Ammonia or Hamamelis O. Camph. also is useful. If there be much swelling Apis should be given. Aconite will speedily remove febrile symptoms. for Venomous and Poisoned Wounds see the next Section.
ACCESSORY MEANS.- If a bee or other stinging-insect be the cause of the trouble, examination must be made for the sting, as this is often left in the wound; if present, it must be carefully extracted by the fingers or by a pair of fine-pointed forceps. If this cannot be done, and the sting has entered the skin perpendicularly, the pressure of a small key may be tried; the centre of the whole should be placed over the wound enclosing it, and sufficient pressure should be used, when, probably, the sting will, be squeezed out. The wound should then be well sucked to extract the venom, as directed in the next Section. After this, the lotion should be applied, or, if the pain be very great, hot fomentations.
Mosquitoes may be prevented from troubling in the night by taking the precaution of rubbing a little soap on the hands before going to rest. This is said to be a certain remedy. Honey is also good, but from its sticky nature is more disagreeable than the soap. Dilute Ac.-Carbol. is however, the most sure protection from insect irritation. The hands, face, and other exposed parts should be washed with a weak solution once or twice daily. The Cockroaches of hot climates may be got rid of, it is said, by burning the bodies of two or three, and letting them lie about; the smell drives the rest away.
228.–Poisoned Wounds.
Poisoned wounds may be by venomous animals– Snakes, Scorpions, etc. by animals having infectious disease; by dead animal matter; by morbid secretions; by vegetable substances; poisoned arrows; subcutaneous injection, etc.; or by mineral substances.
SERPENTS are venomous in a variable degree, according to the dose of venom injected with the bite, its relative toxicity, the site of injection, and the age and power of resistance of the individual bitten.
LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS; LICENTIATE IN MIDWIFERY, LONDON AND EDINBURGH, ETC. PHYSICIAN TO THE READING AND BERKSHIRE HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.
Author of "The Stepping Stone to Homeopathy and Health,"
"Manual of Homoeopathic Treatment". Editor of "The Homoeopathic World."