Looking After Ourselves In

The Tropics

Some Hints on Health Matters by a Tropical Medico

LIKE the bush folk of Australia’s “Never Never,” old residents of the Islands have to turn their hands to many a job that would floor their city cousins. Among others, amateur doctoring, often per formed with a surprising amount of ability and skill, claims a leading place.

The following tips on minor health matters are drawn from the experience of a qualified tropical medical practitioner, in the hope that they may prove of ser vice to some isolated settlers in the Pacific.

Care Of The Feet.

Foot troubles are very common in the tropics and many of them may be traced to the widespread habit of going about barefoot on occasions. Native servants leave the germs of infection about the floors and round the house, and their masters pick them up; fortunately they are fairly easily kept in check.

Moisture between the toes offers a con genial situation for the infection to grow and spread, and an itchy and widespread eruption results; the skin becomes sodden and peels off, till finally a condition re sembling eczema is produced. Any remedy that contains strong or caustic drugs should be avoided—thus iodine is better shunned unless past experience has shown that it does not over-stimulate.

No matter how we classify these foot troubles, be it ringworm, tinea, dhobie itch, eczema, etc., a simple measure ap pears to alleviate them all. Fill a wash basin with warm water and pour in a very few drops of lysol, so as to make a mild, soapy solution; then leave the feet in it for ten minutes or so. The writer has his basin of lysol placed under the breakfast table on such occasions as a dose seems necessary, and endures his footbath during the consumption of the bacon and eggs. A week or so of this treatment, applied twice daily, gives an immunity for months, and further treat ment appears to be required only at increasing intervals. The important thing to remember is not to make the lysol too strong. Excess of zeal in this respect may cause increased inflammation of the feet and a postponement of cure.

Care Of The Ears.

In temperate climates the ears may be left to look after themselves, but in the tropics occasional attention to the ear passages, especially during the rainy season, may prevent a common and very painful infection by germs.

The waxy secretion in the passage per mits of the rapid growth of septic germs which appear to be always looking for a chance to “get one in” during the hot weather. Minute but painful abscesses or boils result, and the patient suffers a good deal. The first sign is often an itchi ness of the ear passage, and the prompt application of an antiseptic may stop the trouble at once.

The best drug to use is peroxide of hydrogen, but this keeps so badly in the tropics that it is usually reported missing by evaporation when most needed. One quarter tabloid of corrosive sublimate, dissolved in a quarter pint of methylated spirit, is equally good and always to hand, and regular use, say, once a fortnight, or if the slightest sign of itching appears, will save an immense amount of suffer ing—how much, only those who have let the disease get fully established can tell.

Both ear passages should be attended

to, for infection often occurs on on© side after the other. Once the preliminary stage is missed, there is not much hope of avoiding abscess formation, so get in early and guard your ears from infection just as you would preserve your teeth from decay.

Care Of The Eyes.

A superficial inflammation of the eye ball is common, resulting in mucus in the eye and interference with vision.

Argyrol dropped in is of great value, in combating this complaint, which is usually traced to glare or errors of refraction in the eye (want of glasses, or unsuitable ones). The man who is fond of his gun will find a great improvement in his sight by the use of Argyrol, which is not a patent drug, and is obtainable from any chemist or doctor.

Care Of The Teeth.

Dentists do not arrive with every boat in the Islands; what teeth Nature leaves us with in this age of rapid dental decay have to be more carefully preserved by our own efforts than is the case in Aus tralia, where professional attendance is immediately obtainable.

Anyone who has learnt the advantage of a soft toothbrush made of badger’s hair will never readily return to the hard bristly variety in general use. A soft toothbrush cleans more effectively, be cause it can be used vigorously without fear of tearing the gums.

Most people have ideas of their own in the selection of a dentifrice, but the one used by the writer, varied occasionally by a powder, has definitely warded off threatened pyorrhoea. This is a prepara

tion containing iodine, made by a well known firm of chemists in Sydney at the instance of the members of the British Medical Association: I do not know of any other on the market which controls germs so effectively. The editor of the P.I.M. will disclose the name of this den tifrice to any inquirers.

Incidentally, a broken tooth may cause an amount of suffering, pain, and nervous distress out of all proportion to so slight a cause. I have known such an accident reduce a strong man to a state of drivell ing madness in a few hours from the inability to eat, smoke, or speak without pain that resulted. The use of a file against the raw edge calmed him down in five minutes, but not before his tongue and gums had become badly swollen. This is a tip worth knowing, if out on patrol or away from skilled help.

Malaria.

We might end this elemenary talk by saying that the treatment of malaria is always the subject of research among doctors, and that nowadays quinine, which is so objectionable to many people, has rivals which are just as reliable, and pleasanter to take. If you live in a malarious district write to your nearest doctor and ask him to send you the latest proved remedies with instructions. You may find your attacks become less fre quent, and at any rate easier to bear.