DENGUE FEVER

March/April 2008 ISSN-1059-6518  Volume 21 Number 2

DENGUE

FEVER

BREAKBONE FEVER,  BONECRUSHER DISEASE

Dengue Fever (breakbone fever or bonecrusher disease)

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF)

Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS)

With the recent outbreaks of Dengue Fever in Brazil, it seems appropriate to review this very significant tropical illness. An outbreak is currently going on in Rio de Janeiro, and as of early April 2008, there were approximately 56,000 cases being reported and 67 deaths.

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Laxatives


March/April 2008 ISSN-1059-6518  Volume 21 Number 2

In this edition of the Wilderness Medicine Newsletter, we have added a new department: Common Expedition Problems. In this new section we discuss common traveling ailments and mishaps, whether on the high seas, on the trail in distant lands, or in a remote village. Since the first topic in this new section is constipation, it seems appropriate to elaborate on the use of laxatives as one of the treatments recommended for this common traveler’s malady.

THERE ARE FOUR TYPES OF LAXATIVES:

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Constipation

March/April 2008 ISSN-1059-6518  Volume 21 Number 2

This it the first installment of a new department that will discuss the annoying ailments, afflictions, and mishaps that can happen to anyone who ventures away from the comforts of home. Whether you go for a day or a month, head for the tropics, the deserts, or the mountains, spend your time on cliff faces, among the bobbing waves, or exploring remote  villages, at some point you will be glad you read this part of the newsletter. And so, we begin at the end (so to speak)….

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Improvised Traction Splint

March/April 2008  ISSN-1059-6518  Volume 21 Number 2

A fractured femur is a very painful injury due to spasms of the large muscles of the upper leg. It is also a potentially life-threatening injury because of the potential blood loss into the area surrounding the fracture—typical blood loss is 1000 – 1500cc—as well as a risk of pulmonary emboli caused by fat emboli that can be released from the bone marrow. Proper splinting with a traction splint minimizes these risks and dramatically reduces the pain by controlling the spasms of the leg muscles. All fractured femurs should be treated with a traction splint, and one can be easily improvised. Read more

Disaster and the Urban Wilderness

At 4:55 p.m. on October 17, 1989, Buck Helm,
a 57-year-old longshoremen’s union clerk in Oakland, California, left work in his car to get something to eat. Nine minutes later, fifty-seven miles to the south and deep beneath the surface of the earth, the Pacific and North American tectonic plates shifted against each other and sent subterranean shock-waves out like ripples in a pond. In moments, the shock-waves reached the multi-level, elevated portion of Interstate 880 that runs along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. They turned the highway into a concrete monster that writhed and undulated as the continent-sized plates far below tried to settle their differences.

ISSN-1059-6518

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