CHAPTER XL 



THE MICROBE OF MEASLES 



THIS microbe attacks the organs of the throat. 

 Here it grows, multiplies in great numbers, and 

 thus generates the peculiar poison which produces 

 the disease. The first symptoms are similar to 

 those of the common cold coughing, sore throat, 

 discharges from the throat and nose, watery eyes, 

 with some fever. In three days so much poison 

 is generated that it enters the circulation and 

 spreads through the whole system. Then comes 

 the eruption of red blotches, the size of a pin head. 

 Because the face is nearest the throat, which is the 

 center of attack, the eruption first appears in the 

 face, and then spreads over the entire body. 



The disease is very contagious and infectious. 

 The germs float in the air. This makes the disease 

 readily taken by breathing the air in a room where 

 the patient is. Cases are on record where a single 

 scholar has given the disease to every other scholar 

 in the room, including the teacher. They all are 

 taken with the disease at the same time. Such 

 examples show how infectious is the disease. And 

 this is the reason why the disease is so epidemic. 

 Usually confined to children, one or two cases gen- 

 erally spread it through the neighborhood. 



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