COMMON COMMUNICABLE DISEASES. 
monia is always present. The germ is a very 
common one. It is found in the dust and 
sweepings of rooms and is frequently present 
in the .mouths of the healthy. Exposure to se¬ 
vere weather or dampness which has produced a 
heavy cold acts as a predisposing cause. The 
system is invaded, resistive power weakened, 
and an attack of pneumonia follows. The germs 
enter the lungs through the respiratory tract, 
often causing disastrous changes in these or¬ 
gans. The poison is eliminated from the sys¬ 
tem through the secretions from the seat of the 
disease, usually the sputum, which should be 
disinfected or burned as in tuberculosis. 
Pneumonia has been called the "Captain of 
the Men of Death,” because it carries off annu¬ 
ally more victims than any other disease. In few 
other forms of illness is such constant care and 
watchfulness on the part of the nurse demanded 
as in pneumonia. The disease usually ends by 
crisis, when collapse or great prostration of all 
the vital forces may occur. Or the patient may 
die during the course of a severe form of the dis¬ 
ease from suffocation or heart failure. Such pa¬ 
tients must not be left alone under any considera¬ 
tion. Heart failure is, perhaps, a point especially 
to be impressed upon the nurse, as any sudden 
exertion or excitement on the part of the patient 
may bring about the dread calamity. One at¬ 
tack of pneumonia instead of affording immun¬ 
ity, seems to predispose to other attacks. 
Relapsing Fever. The micro-organism which 
causes relapsing fever, discovered by Ober- 
meier in 1873, is termed Spirocheta Obermeieri. 
Scientists are of the opinion that the disease is 
61 
Predisposing 
Influences. 
Entrance and 
Excretion. 
Importance of 
Nursing. 
Immediate 
Causes of 
Death. 
Obermeier’s 
Germ. 
