"كتيّب الجزيرة العربية. مجلد II. ١٩١٧" [‎٣‎٦‎٥] (٥٤٢/٣٦٩)

HYGIENE AND DISEASE
365
S hort N otes on some T ropical D iseases
Many tropical diseases need not be described, as they do not occur
in Arabia. Yellow fever, sleeping sickness, beri-beri, kala-azar, do
not occur. Plague has visited Arabian ports from time to time,
but does not become endemic as a rule. The non-tropical diseases,
such as scarlet fever, diphtheria, and the venereal diseases, are
much the same in Arabia as in our own country.
Some of the diseases in the following list are rare in Arabia, but
are not unknown, and therefore have been included in the list.
Boils. This troublesome complaint is common enough every
where, but may be especially troublesome to white men in tropical
countries. It is a localized infection of the skin, not a ' blood-
disease and the infection is spread, by the discharge from a boil,
to neighbouring points of the skin. Boils should not be poulticed,
but should be dressed with antiseptic lotions ; and the surrounding
skin must be kept scrupulously clean. A boil just forming may
sometimes be cut short by an incision, getting three or four drops of
pure carbolic acid well into it with a finely-sharpened piece of wood.
Chiggers. These are not unknown on the shore of the Persian
Gulf, and are due to sand-fleas, which are insects like ordinary
fleas, but rather smaller. The female burrows into the skin of any
creature that it finds, and there becomes distended with blood and
eggs, forming an inflamed swelling about the size of a pea. When
the eggs have been expelled, there remains a little sore, which may
ulcerate. To avoid ' chiggers avoid walking barefoot, and bathe
and examine the feet from time to time. If a black dot, or a little
rounded swelling, be found, generally under a nail, the right treat
ment is to get it out whole, with a sharp clean needle ; some
natives are very expert at this. The spot, after treatment, must
be properly dressed.
Cholera. The ' comma bacillus', the distinctive sign of the
disease, was discovered in Egypt, by Koch, in 1883 ; but there are
many varieties or strains of this germ. The incubation-period of
the disease may be only a few hours, or may be so much as ten days,
but the usual period is from 3 to 6 days. Protection against cholera,
in the presence of an epidemic, includes (1) immediate and strict
enforcement of rules of sanitation, and isolation of cases and of
suspected cases ; (2) the use of Haffkine's protective vaccine ;
(3) the quiet unremitting care of each man for his own personal
health. On this last point, Manson writes as follows :
' During cholera epidemics, great care should be exercised to
preserve the general health ; at the same time, anything like panic