Puerperal fever

In Asia, this plant is valued as a remedy for fever, rheumatism, gout, and inflammatory illnesses. In China, the roots are used as febrifuges, deobstruents, and carminatives, and are used to assuage muscle pains, thoracic and abdominal inflammations, puerperal fever, and diarrhea. 

Persuasive proof of sulfanilamide s true antibacterial prowess came from Leonard Colebrook and his team of researchers in the maternity ward of Queen Charlotte s Hospital in London (7, 8, 9). Managing to obtain samples of Prontosil late in 1935, Colebrook quickly demonstrated the drug s remarkable effectiveness in curbing puerperal fever. The utility was soon expanded to other severe streptococcal infections. 

Streptococcus pyogenes Pharyngitis, impetigo, erysipelas, scarlet fever, puerperal fever, cellulitis, glomerulonephritis, woimd and bum infections, rheumatic fever Rare conjunctivitis, dacryocystitis, central corneal ulcer, preseptal and orbital cellulitis, endophthalmitis... 

Loudon 11987 Puerperal fever, the streptococcus, and the sulphonamides, 1911-1945. British Medical Journal 295 485-490... 

According to Dr. John H. Clarke, in his Dictionary of Materia Medica, homeopathic Silica and Pulsatilla are contraindicated in a patient taking saw palmetto, as they antidote the remedy. An early homeopathic physician, Elias C. Price, M.D., recorded several unusual case histories in which Serenoa was used. One patient was a very nervous woman with chronic inflammation of the bladder. She had frequent and painful urination, 10 to 20 times per night and every 15 to 30 minutes during the day. A rectal examination revealed a hard fleshy tumor the size of half a hen s egg on the posterior of the uterus. She was given Sabal (Serenoa) fluid extract, five drops, three times per day. In two months the tumor was reduced in size by half, and after another three months the tumor and the urinary problem were entirely resolved. In other cases. Dr. Price successfully used Sabal for pelvic cellulitis peritonitis puerperal fever inflammation of the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries and even appendicitis. 

Dunn, P. M. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) and his essay on puerperal fever. Arch. Dis. Child Fetal Neonatal. 2007, 92, F325-F327. 

A few isolated clinical trials of the drug took place in Germany during the period 1933-1935, and Domagk wrote a number of reports about his discoveries but the first serious clinical trial was carried out in 1936 at Queen Charlotte s Maternity Hospital in London. Here, Leonard Colebrook was trying to reduce still further the number of deaths from puerperal fever (which then stood at 2-3 per 1000 deliveries). Initially, he treated 38 women who were very seriously ill with streptococcal infections and saved the lives of all but three of them. Normally, at least 25% of these patients would have died. His Lancet paper generated considerable interest, as did a subsequent trial with a further 26 women, all of whom were saved. 

Puerperal Fever. Puerperal fever may be taken as the leading example of these infections. Almost all fatal cases were streptococcal, and since the disease is notifiable, accurate data are readily available. It was regularly causing nearly 1000 deaths annually in England and Wales until 1935 despite intensive study, streneous efforts at prevention by hygienic measures, and attempts at immunotherapy. 

What is true of puerperal fever applies to acute streptococcal sepsis of other kinds. This most dangerous infection of all kinds of wound, from those sustained in battle to the trivial pricks and scratches which could once lead to septicemia, has lost its terrors.. ... 

W. Cruickshank recommended use of CI2 as a disinfectant (widely used in hospitals by 1823 notably effective in the European cholera epidemic, 1831, and in the outbreak of puerperal fever, Vienna, 1845) Fluoride found in fossil ivory and teeth by D. P. Morichini (soon confirmed by J. J. Berzelius who found it also in bones)... 

For puerperal fever due to blood stasis, subtract Licorice and add Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae (Dan Shen), Cortex Radicis Moutan (Dan Pi), and Radix Rubrus Paeoniae Lactiflorae (Chi Shao) to quicken the blood and recede fever. 

Holmes, O.W. (1855) Puerperal Fever, as a Private Pestilence. Ticknor Fields, Boston. 

OW Holmes. The contagiousness of puerperal fever. N Engl Quart J Med Surg 1503-1530, 1843. 

Kekule s apparent hesitancy in publishing his benzene theory was partly connected to events in his personal life. After their wedding, the couple spent four weeks in Switzerland, where Kekule showed his bride the site of his youthful postdoctoral stay in Chur then in the fall they attended the International Exposition in London, where Stephanie Kekule won the hearts of August s English friends. A son was born to the couple prematurely on 1 May 1863. Unfortunately, after the successful delivery, Stephanie developed puerperal fever, declined, and died on 10 May. Kekule was crushed with grief. He named his little son Stephan, after Stephanie. On the 31st he reported to Stas that "je ne suis pas un moment tranquille" and that he was completely unable to work. ... 

Puerperal fever, striking mothers after childbirth, was particularly lethal and widely known to be more common in hospitals than in home deliveries. A small number of doctors in both England and America suspected that this was caused by transfer of germs and argued that doctors should wash between an autopsy... 

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