Section 16
Poisons

TYPHUS

SYMPTOMS—Sudden onset of chills, high fever, prostration, and general pains. The patient is excited, mentally alert, and has a flushed face and bloodshot eyes.

Delirium frequently occurs early. Small pink spots on neck, chest, abdomen, and limbs appear about the fifth day. They change from pink to red, then to purple, and finally turn brownish.

Heavy bronchitis, with cough and sputum. Pulse is rapid, but blood pressure is low.

In its early stages, typhus is like Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but the home treatment for both is essentially the same.

CAUSES—There are three main types of typhus fevers (louse fever, flea and tick fever, and mite fever), but they are all treated about the same and are caused by similar bacteria carried by lice, fleas, ticks, or mites.

Typhus occurs where people are crowded together under unsanitary conditions.

But Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease are more easily acquired by anyone who goes out into the woods.

—See "Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever" and "Lyme Disease" for related information.

TREATMENT—

• Typhus is a tropical disease, and occurs rarely in the northern climates. Call a physician. If none is available, give the treatment for "fevers" and "Bubonic plague" (which see).

ENCOURAGEMENT—The end of all things is at hand. Oh that we could see, as we should, the necessity of seeking the Lord with all the heart! Then we should find Him. May God teach each one of us how to pray more fervently.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER (Tick fever)

SYMPTOMS—Symptoms begin 7-12 days after being bitten: headaches, chills, weakness, fever, muscle pain, and dry cough. There is a skin rash on the wrists, ankles, palms, soles of the foot and forearms; this then spreads to the neck, face, axilla, buttocks, and trunk.

Next comes liver enlargement and pneumonitis. If untreated, circulatory failure brings death.

CAUSES—When symptoms first appear, do not wait for a positive blood test identification before instituting treatment. Death may occur as soon as 4-10 days after appearance of symptoms. Contact a physician.

Spotted fever is caused by a similar bacteria (rickettsia) that causes typhus (which see), but spotted fever is transmitted by a tick. Of the reported cases, 90% occur along the eastern seaboard and 10% in the Rocky Mountains. But it can be contracted anywhere in between those regions.

May through October is when people, who are out in the woods, are especially bitten. You can also get it from your dog, which has been roaming the woods and picking up ticks as though he were a vacuum cleaner.

TREATMENT—

• Call a physician; auxiliary home treatment would be for "fevers" and "Bubonic Plague." For preventative measures, see "Lyme Disease."

• If a tick is biting you, pull it off slowly so as not to leave part behind; then rub on a little alcohol, vinegar, or lemon.

PREVENTION—Before going on a walk in the woods or fields, mix 50-50 powdered sulphur and talcum powder, and dust it on your legs and around your waist. An old-timer suggests putting a little turpentine around your ankles and one drop on your tongue, to discourage them.

Avoid sleeping where cattle graze or near your dog.

—Also see "Lyme Disease."

ENCOURAGEMENT—We can safely trust in God, to help us through the trials and disappointments of life. Go to Him and find in Him the help you so much need. He will give that which is best.

LYME DISEASE

SYMPTOMS—Between 2 and 32 days after the bite, symptoms appear: fatigue, flu-like symptoms, stiff neck, backache, headache, nausea, and vomiting.

Ultimately, enlargement of the lymph nodes and spleen may occur, along with irregular heart rhythm, arthritis, and brain damage.

Some of these symptoms slowly pass away over 2-3 years. But sometimes symptoms recur later without having been bitten again.

Because this disease is now so prominent, and because it can occur so mysteriously, here are more detailed symptoms on its usual 3 stages (which not everyone goes through):

1 - Small raised bumps (and/or a rash) appear on the entire body for 1-2 days or several weeks and then fades. Fever, chills, nausea, and vomiting may also occur.

2 - Weeks or months later, facial paralysis may occur. Frequently, enlargement of the spleen and lymph glands occurs and/or severe headaches, enlargement of the heart muscle, and abnormal heart rhythm.

3 - This can develop into backache, stiff neck, joint pains in the knees, swelling and pain in other joints, and even degenerative muscle and joint disease.

Physicians especially look for these symptoms, before treating with antibiotics: a small red bump at the site of the tick bite; a bull's-eye rash surrounding it; and flu-like symptoms such as fatigue, chills, and joint pain. If treatment is postponed until more advanced symptoms develop (heart, brain, or joint problems), drug medications do not work as well.

CAUSES—The bite of a tiny tick (Ixodes dammini) is primarily carried by deer; but it is also carried, in the eastern states, by white-footed field mice and, in the west, by lizards and jackrabbits. In California it is also transmitted by the black-legged tick, carried by wood rats.

Both deer ticks and black-legged ticks are very tiny: An adult is less than 1/10th of an inch, and the nymph is a pinhead in size. They are much smaller than a dog tick.

Lyme disease most frequently occurs where the white-tailed deer is most abundant, which is the northeastern states. Eight states report 90% of the cases: Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. But it has occurred in every state except Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, and Nebraska. The disease was first identified in the mid-1970s in Lyme, Connecticut.

Dogs and cats can collect these special ticks out in the woods and bring them into your home.

Tick bites are generally painless and unnoticed; so the symptoms may not at first, or later, be correctly diagnosed. But in advanced stages, when correct diagnosis finally occurs, the situation may have become critical.

The symptoms are similar to those of multiple sclerosis, gout, and Epstein-Barr virus (chronic fatigue syndrome), all three of which see.

A test now exists which can detect the bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi) which causes Lyme disease. Antibodies are present from 3 days to 3 weeks after infection.

The majority of cases occur in the summer and fall. After a tick bites, it waits several hours before it begins to feed on the host's blood; and, once it does, it feasts for 3-4 days. The longer the tick remains attached, the greater the risk of Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is treatable and almost always curable if correctly diagnosed in the early stages. But, because the bites are usually painless, the incubation period so long, and the symptoms so varied, the problem may go unrecognized for weeks or months.

If you develop a bull's-eye type of rash anywhere on your body, see your health-care provider right away.

TREATMENT—

• The longer the tick is attached, the greater the risk of Lyme disease.

• Remove the tick with tweezers. Put the tweezers close to the skin and slowly pull straight out. Do not twist. You want the entire tick out, without leaving part of it in the skin or injecting bacteria from its broken body into the skin. You may pour rubbing alcohol on the tick before pulling him out. Do not touch the tick with your hands. Do not apply kerosene, turpentine, or petroleum jelly.

• Wash your hands and the bite area. Apply rubbing alcohol to the bite area. Do not use a match to get the tick out.

• Save the tick in a jar. Call a physician if you want it tested immediately. Watch for symptoms over the next 3 weeks.

• Put suspicious clothing in the dryer for 30 minutes, to kill ticks by dehydration. Washing clothes, even in hot water and bleach, does not necessarily kill ticks.

• Heat relieves pain. Hot baths are helpful. See "Fevers."

PREVENTION—The best solution to this problem is prevention. Avoid going out in the woods in the summer months, when ticks are the most active (especially June to August). Stay on the center of the trails. Check yourself and your children carefully afterward.

Wear long pants and tuck them into your socks. Wear a long-sleeved shirt with a high neck or scarf, plus hat or gloves. If the clothing is light-colored, you can see the ticks better.

You may choose to use an insect repellent containing deet (diethyl toluamide). It lasts longer than others, and is said to be safe on the outside. But it is deadly if taken into your body, and dissolves plastics and synthetics.

Not everyone bitten acquires the disease. A high sugar and fat diet attracts insects! The skin eliminates toxins, which attract bugs when the diet is unnatural.

When the blood is pure and the body clean, there is far less likelihood of tick bites and lice infestation.

A diet high in fiber and natural food will help keep the body clean and protect against infections. Sugar attracts insects.

Herbs useful in preventing infections include: echinacea, goldenseal, garlic, and burdock. Rubbing with lemon juice will disinfect the area. Aloe vera on the area will aid in healing.

Vitamins A and C protect against infections. B complex vitamins help keep the blood clean. Eat lots of greens.

A test is now available, but false positives occur sometimes. So, if you are being treated for Lyme disease and are not getting better, consider having a second test made. One study of nearly 800 people, diagnosed with Lyme disease, revealed that half of them did not have it! Physicians blame false-positive tests for this.

—Also see "Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever."

ENCOURAGEMENT—If, through surrender and prayer, you are in Christ, as the trials come, the power of God will come with them. You will receive exactly that which is best at this time.

BUBONIC PLAGUE (The Plague)

SYMPTOMS—Following an incubation period of 2-10 days, the disease begins suddenly with a high fever, severe headache, great weakness, and pains in the back and limbs. There may be vomiting and diarrhea.

The fever may go up to 104^o F. the first day, accompanied by intense thirst.

Buboes (swollen places) begin to appear the second day in the groin, under the arms, and in the neck.

The disease causes great weakness, and death often occurs sometime between the third and sixth day.

CAUSES—In the bubonic form of the plague, the lymph glands swell; when swollen, they are called "buboes."

This is a disease carried by the Norway rat. The bacteria are in its droppings, which it leaves in the food stuffs it has broken into and partly eaten.

In earlier centuries, several outbreaks of the plague occurred; during one of which one-sixth of the people of Europe died.

There is also a pneumonic form of the plague, which is far less common. The symptoms are about the same as pneumonia, but it is transmitted through the air and is extremely contagious.

The plague essentially never occurs in the Western world today. We mention it here so you will be aware of the symptoms.

TREATMENT—

• Call a physician. Living cleanly and eating right is the best prevention. Healthy, rested, people can resist infection better than others.

ENCOURAGEMENT—All our sufferings and sorrows, all our temptations and trials, all our sadness and griefs; in short, all things—work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose.

DOG OR ANIMAL BITE

SYMPTOMS—You are bitten by an animal.

CAUSES—A dog or other animal has bitten you; is it dangerous?

The first question is has the skin been broken? If the tissues have been merely squeezed, then the matter is of little importance. There may be soreness and a black-and-blue appearance, but it will soon disappear.

But if there has been penetration—an actual wound—then action must be taken. The animal may be perfectly healthy, but of that you cannot be certain.

The animal's teeth may cause the spores of tetanus germs to enter the body or the animal may be rabid. Such bites, if not promptly treated, can result in death.

TREATMENT—

• If you have been bitten, remove the animal's saliva from the wound by washing the area thoroughly with warm water, and then with soap and water. Rinse with plain water. Either catch the dog and confine it or know who the owner is. Notify health authorities, so they can observe the animal.

—See "Rabies" for detailed information about this danger and what should be done. Also see "Tetanus." Tetanus is far less likely, yet is a possibility.

ENCOURAGEMENT—All experiences and circumstances are God's workmen whereby good is brought to us. Let us look at the light behind the cloud.

RABIES (Hydrophobia)

SYMPTOMS—Symptoms begin appearing within 1-4 months after the bite, but sometimes longer. They include numbness, soreness, and tingling where the bite occurred.

These sensations spread, and it becomes difficult to swallow, breathe, and talk.

Then more extensive muscle spasms begin, and the victim gradually becomes maniacal. The final stages are depression, exhaustion and sometimes paralysis, coma, and death.

If the symptoms of rabies have already begun to appear, the person will probably die.

See end of this article for symptoms in a rabid dog. Rabies can also be transmitted by the bite of infected bats, foxes, skunks, and other animals.

CAUSES AND TREATMENT—

• A backwoodsy nature doctor, who has treated all kinds of things with remarkable success, says to do this: Wash the wound with water right away and then mix with half and half vinegar and warm water, and wash the wounds with it. When dry, apply 1-2 drops of muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) to each wound. Do this even if, what appears to be, a rabid dog only licks a previous wound on you.

• For extra precaution, you may apply a tourniquet and a rubber vacuum cup as for a snake bite (which see for further details). If acid is not available, you may burn the wound with a magnifying glass in the sunlight. Or use a red-hot iron. Then treat as for a regular burn until it is healed. This treatment usually prevents further worry. So says this backwoodsman.

• Jethro Kloss has a lengthy article on this in his book, Back to Eden (pp. 490-495) (see order sheet). He also says to put hydrochloric acid on the wound, to neutralize the rabies poison in the saliva. Then, after discussing a number of herbal remedies to also use, he quotes a scientific paper by an M. Buisson, read to the French Academy of Arts and Sciences. M. Buisson had accidentally contracted rabies from a women suffering with it. By the time he discovered he had it, the disease was advanced and he knew he was soon to die. Kloss quotes a London newspaper which reported on the scientific paper:

"Concluding from these various symptoms that he was suffering with hydrophobia, he [Buisson] resolved to make an end of himself by suffocating himself in a vapor [steam] bath. With this view, he raised the heat very, very, hot, but was delighted, no less than surprised, to find that all his pains disappeared. He went out of the bath completely cured, ate a hearty dinner, and drank more freely than was usual with him. He adds that he has treated more than fourscore persons who have been bitten by mad dogs in a similar manner, and they all recovered, with the exception of a child seven years old, who died in a vapour bath he was administering."—Kloss, Back to Eden, p. 493.

• Water therapists normally work with a steam bath temperature of 115^o-120^o F. (See our Water Therapy Manual (see order sheet) for detailed information on steam baths, pp. 131-138.) Those with diabetes, valvular heart disease, extreme arteriosclerosis, or emaciation should not use a steam bath.

Kloss also quotes a German newspaper which discussed an incident which happened in Saxony:

• "A Saxon forester named Gastell, at the age of 82, unwilling to take to the grave with him a secret of so much importance, has made public in the Leipsic Journal the method which he used for fifty years, and he affirms he has rescued many human beings and cattle from the fearful death of hydrophobia. Wash the wound immediately with warm water and vinegar; let it dry, and then pour upon the wound a few drops of hydrochloric acid, and that will neutralize and destroy the poison of the saliva."—Op. cit., p. 494.

We included the above as a matter of historical interest. Now we return to modern physiologic and medical theory on rabies:

• Nearly all human rabies cases result from dog bites. The animal can transmit disease before it shows symptoms of rabies; but, except in rare instances, the symptoms will appear within 10 days if it is rabid. The disease is always fatal, unless it is halted by a series of Pasteur treatments, which are started before symptoms first appear.

• If at all possible, it is crucial to confine the animal which inflicted the bite so it can be observed. The course of the disease runs so fast that the animal should show symptoms of rabies before they begin to appear in the person. If the animal is rabid, it will show clear signs within 2 weeks, then the person bitten should begin the Pasteur series of rabies shots (unless circumstances are clear that the animal was not rabid).

• If the animal got away and cannot be found, then the person should immediately take the rabies vaccine series.

• If the series has already been started, and the animal is then found not to have rabies, the Pasteur treatments can be stopped.

• About 10%-12% of persons bitten by a known rabid animal, and not treated, will contract rabies and die. If the Pasteur series is started within 2 weeks or less after the bite, about one-third of 1% of those bitten will die.

• It is not widely known that rabies is sometimes transmitted accidentally in hospitals. Rabies in humans is sometimes misdiagnosed as a stroke. After death, some of that rabid tissue may be transplanted to another person.

• If your child's pet hamster bites him, do not think the child needs to start rabies shots. Know that, if you have had that hamster for 3 weeks or more and it shows no symptoms of rabies, the hamster does not have rabies.

• Rabies shots last 10 days and are so difficult to take that the person often goes to the hospital for respiratory support while they are in progress.

SYMPTOMS IN THE DOG—Initially, there is a marked change in its disposition. He will become very friendly or very snappy; the bark becomes hoarse.

Paralysis may soon develop—first the lower jaw, then the hind legs, and gradually the rest of the body.

But, instead, the dog wants to run away. It may run for miles, snapping at any creature which comes near it.

Finally, it becomes exhausted and paralysis sets in.

If a dog shows signs of rabies, it must be chained (not roped), and observed for 2 weeks.

—Also see "Dog or Animal Bite" and "Antispasmodic Tincture."

ENCOURAGEMENT—Jesus encourages you to persevere in prayer. In Him you can find the help you need for the crisis you face.

TULAREMIA (Rabbit fever)

SYMPTOMS—The first indication is a local ulceration at the infection site. About 1-7 days after infection occurs, chills, headache, prostration, and general pains suddenly begin. The disease is characterized by high fever and recurring chills with drenching sweat. A shallow but ongoing ulcer develops at the site of the original wound or bite. Lymph glands draining that area become swollen and painful (but they should not be lanced!).

If not treated, the fever generally lasts 3-4 weeks, and generally is not fatal. But convalescence is slow. Physical and mental depression can last for months.

CAUSES—One cause is the bite of an animal, generally a rabbit. A more frequent cause today (87%) is cutting oneself while skinning and dressing infected rabbits or ground squirrels. Often these are wild rabbits.

If you notice the appearance of symptoms—and you have been working with rabbits, especially wild ones—then have the condition immediately diagnosed. Sputum samples are highly contagious, so the lab should be warned about your suspicions.

TREATMENT—Go to a physician.

ENCOURAGEMENT—We yearn for a deeper, broader, sense of God's presence. As we seek for it, we find the strength, peace, and encouragement we need. God will help you.

CAT COCCIDIA (Toxoplasmosis)

SYMPTOMS—Symptoms can mimic the flu, cause headache, high fever, rash, swollen lymph nodes, meningitis, hepatitis, pneumonitis, myocarditis, blindness, and diarrhea.

If a pregnant woman contracts this disease, it will cause birth defects in the fetus (brain defects, blindness, and/or mental retardation).

CAUSES—Those who keep cats should be aware of this danger. Cat coccidia is caused by a tiny protozoa (Isospora bigemina) which lives in the intestines of cats. Apparently, it is in many cats!

This disease is acquired by inhaling or swallowing dust from contaminated kitty litter boxes or outdoor sand or dirt piles. But it can also come from eating rare beef. While that protozoa is in an intermediate stage, it is outside the cat's intestines—and can enter the human body.

TREATMENT—

• See a physician. Diagnosis is made from a positive blood test or skin test.

PREVENTION—Women should avoid cats just prior to, and during, pregnancy. They should only eat well-cooked meat. Better yet, stop eating it entirely, since many diseases are transmitted through eating meat, poultry, fish, and shellfish.

ENCOURAGEMENT—You can trust God to do for you that which you cannot do for yourself. In Him is our strength and help. In Him we find the answers we need to life's problems.