THE TREATMENT OF ASIATIC CHOLERA. 



83 



Under the head of treatment by stimulation all the mild cases are 

 included so that the mortality appears small. As a method of treatment 

 of severe collapse this method is generally recognized to be of the least 

 value. 



As may be seen, the number of recoveries in the cases treated by tlie 

 intravenous method is 25.2 per cent greater than in those treated by the 

 subcutaneous method and 9.1 per cent, greater than in the cases treated 

 by the combined method. 



It may be argued that as the method of intravenous injection was 

 employed toward the end of the epidemic, the apparent superiority of 

 this method was in reality due to a diminished virulence of the disease. 

 The facts, however, are as follows: The epidemic was at its height from 

 September 19 to 26. The method of intravenous injection as a routine 

 measure was begun about September 2G. The general mortality in the 

 city from August 1 to September 25 was 67.3 per cent; from September 

 26 to October 31 it was 62.3 per cent. Hence the mortality in the last 

 part of the epidemic was only 5 per cent less than that of the first part. 

 This decrease may be much more reasonably attributed to the increased 

 facilities for finding and treating cases than to a reduced virulence, but 

 in either case there remains a substantial gain in the recovery of the cases 

 treated by the intravenous method. 



Chart 3 illustrates the curves of total mortality in the patients treated 

 with the two methods and for the different ages of the patients and 

 shows that the intravenous method was more advantageous for all ages; 

 its superiority was shown to be least for cases from 20 to 29 and from 

 60 to 69 years. In making the curves relating to age, a total of 409 cases 

 was \ised, 162 being treated by the subcutaneous method and 87 by the in- 

 travenous; the charts of the remaining individuals were incomplete or 

 unavailable. 



III. THE TREATMENT AND MORTALITY OF COLLAPSE. 



Table II. — Showing the results of the different methods of treatment in 



collapse. 



Collapse. 



stimulation 



Subcutaneous injection 



Subcutaneous and intravenous injections 

 Intravenous injection 



Cases. 



145 

 175 

 36 

 94 



Deaths. 



Mortality. 



Per cent. 

 18.6 

 54.8 

 25.0 

 20.2 



The above table gives the results of treatment from which it may be 

 seen that during the stage of collapse the mortality in the cases treated 

 by the intravenous method is 34.6 per cent less than in those treated by 

 the subcutaneous method. 



Chart 4 gives the curves of mortality of the patients of different ages 



