Excerpt from Clinical Observations on Epidemic Influenza

Inasmuch as we had never observed such spots before, and were unable to find any account of them in the literature, it appeared at first as if they might be specific of influenza as Koplik's spots are specific of measles. After the epidemic, however, it was possible to examine several hundred mouths of individuals who had had no symptoms of influenza, and in them also these spots were frequently present. In 303 examinations of 55 controls made daily over a period of one to nine days, the spots were seen 110 times, or in per cent. They were seen at some time in per cent of 38 controls examined daily over a period of a week or more. It was Striking, however, that the spots were usually much smaller and less bright than in the influenza patients. Although they are Obvious and often picturesque in the latter. They are frequently so insignificant in the controls that they are found only on careful search. Possibly the hyperemia of the mouth in influenza presents a specially favorable con dition for their development. Their exact cause is uncertain; they may be due to slight trauma to the mucosa of the month. So that although these spots are not a Specific lesion, their pres ence in typical form may have a certain degree of clinical specificity.

Another striking feature in the appearance Of the mouth was a swelling of the minute nodules normally present on the soft palate. They were Often extremely prominent, appear ing as white or gray glistening, rounded bodies, varying in size from 1 to 3 millimeters in diameter. They were usually abundant, the entire soft palate being thickly seeded with them, and they stood out sharply against the surrounding hyperemia.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.