Mothers’ remedies.—­Diphtheria is such a dangerous disease and so rapidly fatal that the family physician should be promptly called.  Until he arrives the following may be used to give some relief: 

2.  Diphtheria, Kerosene Good for.—­“Kerosene oil applied to the throat of child or adult is very good.”

3.  Diphtheria, Hops and Hot Water Relieves.—­“Make two flannel bags and fill with hops which have been moistened with hot water; place bags in a steamer and heat.  Keep one bag hot and the other around the throat.  Change often, relief in short time.”  Mrs. Shaw has tried this in a case of diphtheria and other throat trouble and recommends it as an excellent remedy.

[186 Mothers’ remedies]

Physicians’ treatment for Diphtheria.  Prevention.—­The patient should be isolated as soon as the spots or membrane are seen.  Other children who have been with the sick one should at once be given “immunizing” doses of antitoxin, and the furniture of the sick room such as hangings, carpets. rugs, etc., should be removed and disinfected, only the necessary articles being kept in the room.  The room should be kept well ventilated, but no draught should get to the patient.  The one nursing the patient should not come near the other members of the family.  All articles of clothing worn by the patient should be dipped in a 1 to 2000 solution of corrosive sublimate before they are removed from the sick room. (Other solutions may be used; see Nursing Department).  Dishes, etc., should be treated in the same way and foods left over should be put in a vessel containing an antiseptic solution, and then burned.  Everyone going into the sick room should cover their head with a cap and wear a robe-covering over their clothes, and on leaving the room should gargle or rinse their mouth with a solution of boric acid, about one or two teaspoonfuls to a glass of water, The infant should not be nursed at the breast lest the breast become infected; the milk should be pumped out and fed to the infant with a bottle.  If the infant has diarrhea milk must be stopped, the bowels irrigated, and no milk given until all danger from this source is past.  The nurse must be careful of the discharges from the nose, mouth and bowels.  Discharges from the bowels and the urine must be received in a vessel with an antiseptic solution in it like copperas, lime, etc.  Cloths used to receive the discharge from the nose and mouth should be thrown in a vessel containing a solution of 1 to 2000 of corrosive sublimate and then burned.  The nurse should wear a gauze protection over her nose and mouth when she is near the patient, and glasses, so that no sputum or discharge from the patient can enter these organs.  When the nurse leaves the sick room for a rest or walk, she should change her clothes in an unused room and put them where they can air, wash her hands, face and hair in an antiseptic solution.  Great care must be taken by the nurse, or she will carry the disease.  The doctor also must take the same care.