PUR'PURA ( Lat., from Gk. 7rop4tipa, porphyra, purple-tish . purple dye). The term applied to a diseased condition in which a number of hemor rhages occur under the skin, so as to produce blotches of a more or less purple color. These spots vary from one to four millimeters in diam eter. When small they are termed petechhe (q.v.) ; when large they are known as eechymoses (q.v.). At first bright red in color, they be come darker, and gradually fade to brownish stains. They do not fade on pressure. Purpura occurs aŤ a secondary symptom in a large num ber of diseases, among them being scurvy, rheu matism, scarlatina, measles, smallpox, typhus fever, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, the plague. leueocythietnia. Hodgkins' disease, cirrho sis of the liver, and Bright's disease, It is depen dent on an altered state of the blood. Purpura may follow the use of certain drugs, and snake poison produces a rapid extravasation of blood. As a distinct disease purpura occurs mainly in two forms, the simple and the hemorrhagic. These, however, may be regarded as essentially the same, but of different degrees of severity. In its mildest form purpura appears simply as an eruption of purplish spots on the legs alone or scattered over the body, and attended with little constitutional disturbance. Recovery generally
takes place in from ten to twenty day% in the hemorrhagic form the spots are larger and more numerous, and bleeding occurs from the mucous membranes. The nose, mouth, stomach and in testines, kidneys, female generative organs. and the bronchi may be the sources of blood. Severe anemia ensues and great prostration is succeed ed by death. There is often a rise in tempera ture. This form is usually met with in young and delicate individuals, particularly girls. There are instances of purpura hemorrhagica of great malignancy. which prove fatal within twenty-four hours. The treatment of the mild form is simply rest in bed, tonic medicines, and simple food. In the severe eases efforts are made to stop the hemorrhage by the administration of drugs which have the power of contracting the blood vessels, notably ergot and suprarenal extract. Symp tomatic purpura depends for its treatment on the nature of the disease to which it is secondary.