أعراض مرض الكُلِرَة .. كتاب في سبيل موسوعة علمية .. الدكتور أحمد ذكي

Symptoms of the disease

The disease begins in 90 percent of infections as follows:

The disease begins suddenly with painless diarrhea, but with it is vomiting. This usually lasts between 3 and 12 hours, and the intestinal emptyings begin to increase in volume, become more frequent, and begin to resemble barley water. This is followed by cramping and cramping pain in the muscles of the extremities, then in the abdomen. The patient complains terribly of thirst, he is overcome by anxiety and confusion, weakness and fatigue prevail, his skin is cold, his eyes are sunken, his voice is hoarse, and his pulse is weak. If his temperature is taken in the rectum, it is between 38 degrees Celsius and 40 degrees Celsius.

(A map showing the spread of the chlorosis epidemic in Asia. Where the black color is solid (in India, China, etc.), chlorosis is endemic. Where the black color is lines (in India, Pakistan, and China), the chlorosis epidemic occurs frequently. Where the black color is dots in these, the epidemic sometimes occurs.)

(With much chlorosis, curved bacilli)

- The second stage, the collapse stage;

Then the second stage begins, which is the stage of collapse, during which these symptoms increase rapidly, and signs of decline appear in the patient. The surface of his body becomes colder to the touch and blue to the sight, and with the blueness comes dryness and wrinkling as a result of the body losing a lot of water due to frequent diarrhea. The eyes become more sunken, the pulse at the wrist becomes weaker until it ceases to be felt, and the voice becomes hoarse. Urine may stop altogether.

In this case, the patient may die in less than a day. However, in general epidemics, there are cases in which the patient collapses suddenly, and comes completely, giving him only an hour or two to die, and that without precedent by much diarrhea or vomiting.

- The next stage of the disease, the recovery stage;

If the patient is able to live, he enters the third stage, in which the symptoms of the stage we mentioned stop, and the patient’s condition improves. The pulse returns, the skin returns to its normal color, and the body temperature returns. It does not take a long time until the vomiting stops. Diarrhea may remain for some time, but its intensity weakens, and urine remains interrupted for some time, but it returns with albumin upon examination.

However, even in this third stage, the patient has not definitely crossed the risk range. Setback occurs in some cases, and is often the decisive factor.