SCARLET FEVER. Synonyms.—Scarlatina; Scarlet Rash. Definition ...

This is not always easy to determine. If the patient be fairly robust, the
Adirondacks will be ideal, as will be Colorado; if more delicate and less
able to resist shock, the sunny, dry, and equable climate of New Mexico,
Arizona, or Southern California, will be more desirable. In fact, much
depends upon the effect that the climate has upon the individual. If it
improves the appetite, enables the patient to sleep, and invigorates
generally, and the patient increases in flesh, he has found his climate,
and should abide there; if, on the other hand, there is no gain in flesh,
the patient sleeps poorly, and the appetite is not increased, he must
move on; but wherever he goes, he must be much in the open air.
After cavity formation, hectic fever and night-sweats appear, the
patient should not be allowed to leave home, as the change usually
hastens the fatal termination, and, besides, depriving him of the comfort
and pleasure of home and friends during his last hours.
Treatment of the Disease.—The treatment of tubercular patients will
depend largely upon the stage of the disease. In the earlier stages our
object would be to improve the general health, and get a better
elaboration of blood; in other words, to raise the vital force of the
individual to such a point that the soil will not grow or develop the
poison or germ, and in this way bring about a cure. Thus it is a question
of nutrition.
Hygienic measures will form a great aid in the curative action of
remedies; for I believe that very many cases, if seen in the early stages,
can be cured. The treatment is usually quite plain. A little medicine;
plenty of pure, fresh air and sunshine; gentle exercise, not enough to
produce weariness; a tonic for the digestive apparatus; means to
establish the secretions; a remedy for the cough,—and the patient, if
curable, will soon show the effects of the treatment.
One great axiomatic truth that the physician should never lose sight of,
is that any remedy which disturbs the stomach should at once be
withdrawn. A good appetite and a good digestion are requisite for
improvement; hence codliver-oil should seldom be prescribed. Once in
perhaps a hundred cases, will you find a patient who can take codliveroil
and not disturb his stomach, and for such patients this remedy is
permissible. Nevertheless I am inclined to believe that good, sweet
breakfast bacon, and the fat of beefsteak and roast-beef, will prove just
as efficient as the oil, and is at the same time not only more palatable
but more easily assimilated.
The Eclectic Practice of Medicine - PART I - Infectious Diseases - Page 213