The treatment of rabies, save Pas teur's, is unsatisfactory, and that is futile unless taken in time. Denny (Northwestern Lancet, Apr. 1, '96).
In the treatment of hydrophobia it is far better to expel the poison and with draw the excess of blood from the con gested cerebral area, than to attempt to immunize the party bitten by the fur ther absorption of the Caine poison which induces the disease. The treatment per sonally advocated is the "Buisson" bath, which is a vapor-bath (commonly called Russian). The theory, according to Buisson, is simply that sweating (in creased by hot drink) opens all the pores of the skin, and all poisonous matter in the blood or in surface wounds is forced out through the pores. When the Buis son bath is used and profound sweating results, not only is the poison, if there is one, eliminated, but also the excess of blood, demonstrated to be in the cen tral nervous system by the evidence of symptoms and also pathological testi mony, is speedily withdrawn from the congested cerebrum and centres, and as a result the symptoms are subdued and the patient recovers. Beverly O. Kin near (Med. Record, July 22, '99).
In the care of patients suffering from rabies it is especially necessary to take great precaution with regard to the saliva. While there are no cases on record of infection by this means, there is no doubt that the saliva carries the infectious agent of the disease. Too much care cannot be taken, therefore, with regard to basins, towels, the hands of the patients, the sheets, pillow-cases, and other things that come in contact with the saliva. In every case of dog bite that conies for treatment the patient should be asked whether the bite was inflicted by a stray or by a known ani mal. If by a stray animal, then the case should be suspected and for safety's sake the Pasteur treatment should be advised. Wilson (Med. News, Aug. 11, 1900).
Of 14,000 persons inoculated in eight years only 70 died of the disease, these fatal cases being chiefly persons who came for treatment months after the bite was received. There can be no doubt that the mortality from rabies has been enormously lessened by the use of this method of treatment.
For the year 1559, in the Department of the Seine, 6 deaths occurred from hydrophobia: 3 in persons who had undergone treatment in the Pasteur Institute and the other 3 in those who had received no treatment whatever.
Pasteur's inoculations do not prevent the disease. The rigid enforcement of the law in reference to stray dogs is of more importance. Dujardin-Beaumetz (Jour. de MCA. de Paris, '90).
The statistics of the Imperial Institute of Experimental Medicine at St. Peters burg for 1893: 4S6 persons applied for treatment,—the largest number thus far. Of these, 101 were judged, for various reasons, not to require treatment. In addition to these 16 had no wound, 6 were bitten by animals which were found later on to be free from rabies, and 5 refused to continue the treatment. This makes the total number of patients 358, of which number 4 died, 1 during the treatment. Excluding this case, the mortality was 0.54 per cent. Kraiousch kine (Archives des Sci. Biol., vol. iii, No. 2, '95).
From the annual report of the Odessa Antirabic Institute, it appears that, dur ing 1594, 984 persons were treated, 42 of whom had not been bitten, but had been in danger of infection, either while treat ing men or animals suffering from the disease or in making autopsies of ani mals succumbing to it. The mortality was 0.21 per cent. Diatropow (Archives des Sci. Biol., vol. iv, No. 1, '95).
The following are statistics of the Pas teur Institute of Paris for 1594: 1392 eases treated, 12 deaths. In 5 of the mortal cases the first symptoms of rabies were evident less than fifteen days after the last inoculation. Not counting these, there remain 1357 cases with 7 deaths, or 0.50 per cent.; 3 eases, in ad dition, were attacked by rabies in the course of the inoculations. Out of the 13S7 cases 226 were foreigners. Pottevin (Annales de l'Inst. Pasteur, July, '95).
Evidence adduced which shows, from the statistics of every country where Pasteur institutes have been established, that the mortality from hydrophobia has actually increased. The enactment of a dog-muzzling law urged as the most important measure for limiting the rav ages of this disorder. C. W. Dulles (Med. Record. July 13, 1901).