The Symptoms of Remittent Or Bilious Fever

Chill followed by fever and sweating; no complete intermission; all the other symptoms of ague or intermittent fever are present; sometimes jaundice; remittent fever may either follow, or terminate in, ague.

The principal distinction between this disease and intermittent fever is the fact that in remittent fever there is no complete intermission in which the patient is entirely free from fever. At the commencement of the attack the remission is generally quite marked, sometimes lasting a few hours and occasionally extending to one or two days, often corresponding exactly to the intermission in ague. After a few days the fever generally becomes continuous.

Remittent fever may generally be distinguished from typhoid fever by the fact that the temperature is usually the highest in the morning. The opposite of which is true in typhoid and typhus fevers.

TYPHO-Malarial Fever.-Remittent fever may be complicated with typhoid fever, constituting a disease known as typho-malarial fever. When typhoid fever occurs in malarious districts, it is very likely to be complicated with malarial. In these cases, either element may be the predominating one.

Typho-malarial fever is not, as many suppose, malarial fever in which the typhoid condition occurs, but an actual union of the two diseases. Under the name of "camp fever," typhoid-malarial fever was very prevalent in some portions of the army during the war. This form of fever is much more grave than either simple malarial or typhoid fever. It is distinguished from either remittent or typhoid, by the fact that it presents a mixture of the symptoms characteristic of each.

The Treatment of Remittent Or Bilious Fever

The treatment of this disease consists in the employment of packs, full baths, hot-air baths, and other vigorous eliminative measures.

The wet-sheet pack is really one of the most valuable remedies which can be used in this class of diseases. It may be administered either during the fever or during the remission. The object of its employment during the fever, is for the purpose of reducing the temperature. During the remission, it may be used as an eliminative. The hot-air or vapor bath should be used during the remission. When the fever is high, the patient should be sponged frequently with tepid water, and tepid compresses changed as frequently as necessary should be applied to the abdomen. Constipation of the bowels may be relieved by daily enemas. When the fever is high, cold enemas, retained as long as possible, may be employed with advantage. The same directions respecting diet, medicine, etc., which have been given in describing treatment for intermittent fever, should be followed in the treatment of this disease.