" WALKING CASES " OF YELLOW FEVER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 289, 13 December 1878, Page 4

" WALKING CASES " OF YELLOW FEVER.

A New Orleans physician, in a private letter, writes that he. follows the old treatment in yellow fever, and has had over 100 cases, with only sixteen deaths. Two of the latter were * walking cases." The terra is a technical one,understobd in yellow fever districts. A 'walking caße' is a patient who re fuses lo go to bed, and keeps his feet till he drops dead. Sometimes he refuses to admit he has yellow fever ; sometimes he realises that he has the' dread disease, and despairs of recovery from the start. Sometimes the * walking case' manifests the most abject fear, and again he displays the courage and indifference of a spy led out' to execution. Sometimes the * walking ' is confined to the patient's chamber, and then again he roams the streets, with the seal of death on his brow, the dreadtul black vomit oozing from. his lips — an object of horror to all whom be encounters. This stalking death is uofc an uncommon feature of life in New Orleans during the prevalence of an epidemic. Many who passed through the fearful ordeal of 1853, in which nearly 8,000 victims perished, will remember the case of John C, a Memphis printer. He was a man of splendiii physique and handsome presence, but an unfortunate love affair had made him reckless. |He developed a "walking case ' of yellow fever, and for two days and nights roamed the streets and frequented the drinking houses of the city, in spite of all his friends could do, finally falling in the street, and dying before he could be conveyed to his room. He would wipe the black yum t from his lips, hold up the handkerchief, critically examine the horrible exudation, and remark, with grim humor, that his ' coffee' didn't agree with him that morning. Death is dreadful at best, but no other disease presents so great horror as a ' walking case ' of yellow fever.