A treatise on syphilis in new-born children and infants at the breast / by P. Diday ; translated by G. Whitley.

  • Diday, P. (Paul), 1812-1894.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on syphilis in new-born children and infants at the breast / by P. Diday ; translated by G. Whitley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    _ Ihese patches most frequently appear on the scrotum, the vulva in he gemto-crunh fold, about the umbilicus, the axilla, the com- inissures of the bps (where Nicolas Massa has already pointed them out as a sign of syphilis), and tlie anus; less frequently at the alie of the nose, between the chin and lower lip, behind tlie ears, n the external meatus of the ear, in the spaces which separate the toes, and on the hairy scalp. lu this last situation, where it appears only in new-born children and in adults who are bald the mucous patch remams dry longer than elsewhere; and it is there sometimes covered with a true crust. Care must be taken not to confound it with ecthyma, the expression of a more advanced syphilitic diathesis. Mucous patches on the skin coexist most frequently with a roseolous and especially with a papular eruption. Mncous patches an papulae even appear to be the common manifestation of an identical cause, i. e., of a similar degree and similar period of constitutional infection. Thus, as the cliild gets older the papular form wiU predominate. Under the opposite conditions, mucous patches will predominate, and wiU be found in the situations gene- rally seen to be occupied by papulae, as the belly, the buttocks, the nape o the neck, &c. There is nothing simprising in this, for there exists more than a mere^ analogy between tlie two lesions. It the cutaneous secretion which covers the papulae meet with moisture wliich macerates it, the papula, in developing itself, takes on the form of a mucous patch; thus we see that it is a mere question of situation. The diagnosis of mucous patches is easy for one who has been accustomed to see them, but the most detailed description could only give a very imperfect idea of them. Without neglecting to consult that which we have endeavoured to trace from nature the practitioner must bear in mind that experience and not reaclino-, the suggestions of liis good sense and not of Ins imagination, are mdispensable for this diagnosis, which is an object of primary importance m the study of sypliilis, and especially of infantile syphilis. Sliglit cracks often affect the labial commissures; in suspected children these must be examined carefully, and if they continue in spite of emollient applications, if their surface assume a white