HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 September 1941, Page 2

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

TREATMENT OF COMMON COMPLAINTS ORDINARY SORES. (Prepared and issued by the Health Department). Sensible and simple treatment of the common sore will clear it up with a minimum of delay and a minimum of inconvenience. You cannot expect to do it in much under two weeks, but if ar. outbreak of these sores —or impetigo, as they are technically termed —is not cared for, they may persist for weeks. -They are not nice. They spread from one child to another very easily, and, if they are not cleared up as quickly as possible, the scope of infection is correspondingly increased. The cause of the sore is a germ which is present everywhere in dust, in the air, and, normally, on our skin. The tender skin of the child is more subject to attack than an adult’s, and in some children the sores have the unpleasant habit of recurring at certain seasons of the year, and of appearing in the same place each time —the scalp, chin, face or legs. Actually, however, they are liable to break out at any time on almost any part of the body. The first sign is usually a small blister, which may grow quickly to the, size of a shilling or a two-shilling piece. During the first day, or shortly after, the blister is broken, and a moist red sore takes its place. The sore oozes a serum, which eventually forms a crust, but where this serum runs other blisters appear. The important thing is to keep the affected area as small as possible. The involuntary inclination of a child to scratch itself should be curbed. Treatment of an ordinary outbreak is simple. Strap the sores with a strip of plaster. Do not remove crusts, but apply the strip of plaster directly to the affected part No other dressing is needed. Leave for a week untouched, and at the end of that time, if not a complete clearance, certainly a big improvement will be noted. If necessary, renew the application for a further week. In extensive cases, or places difficult to reach with plaster, try a starch poultice to soften and de-

tach the crusts without pain, and apply a zinc and mercury ointment. Look after the child’s general health. A generous diet, with plenty of milk, butter, eggs, and a daily dose of codliver oil with its vitamin A are advised. And a little iron tonic helps, too.