CONVALESCENCE

Convalescence may be described as the period between the ce ation of an attack of serious illne and the restoration, if not to a perfect, to an accustomed state of health. Convalescent patients should particularly guard against exce in eating or drinking, or unnece ary and imprudent exposure to cold or damp weather, during this interval, as well as against premature exertion of the limbs or voice; such and all of which are acts of imprudence that may give rise to a return of the disease. In order to avoid this latter risk, as well as to aid in complete recovery, repose both of body and mind are generally needed, more particularly in the earlier stages of convalescence. It should be borne in mind that convalescents from many infectious diseases, such as measles, scarlet fever, smallpox, typhus, ., are much more likely to propagate these diseases than when they are labouring under them in the acute form. During the period of their recovery the skin and other organs are throwing off the poison in large quantities, and thus exposing those in contact with, or in the near neighbourhood of the convalescent, to the great and imminent risk of contagion. Even if not contagious himself, the convalescent’s clothes, if they be the same as those worn by him during his illne , may also convey the disease.