DAILY TELEGRAPH: James Lefanu column
The major outbreak of Strep A, first reported a couple of months ago, continues with a steady rise in fatalities (236). They now include a friend from University days after the briefest of illnesses, just three days between the onset of a sore throat and her emergency admission to Intensive Care. For most the symptoms are (relatively) mild and readily treatable with Penicillin. But in this much more serious form (known as invasive group A streptococcal disease or iGAS), the bacteria release potent toxins causing a profound fall in blood pressure that in turn compromises the functioning of the kidneys, liver and lungs.
Prompt diagnosis is therefore essential taking into account three factors highlighted by infectious disease specialist Elizabeth Whittaker. Most sore throats are due to a virus rather than Strep A but as there is no ready test that distinguishes between them, it is wise in the current situation to prescribe antibiotics. Then ,(very) importantly, people need to be advised their illness may progress despite being on Penicillin. Thus the failure to improve or the onset of new symptoms (loss of appetite, breathlessness, irritability or confusion) warrants further urgent medical attention. Thirdly, the focus of the outbreak has understandably been on children but it can affect all ages with the majority of fatalities ( as my friend) being in their sixties and beyond.
The restorative power of the order and harmony of music has been recognised ever since “David took up the lyre and playing it Saul would be relieved, the spirit of melancholy departing from him”. Poetry likewise, observes Clare Bucknell in her just published and much praised history of the anthology, ‘The Treasuries’. Or perhaps even more so – expressing through the compression and distillation of language the full spectrum of human emotions from despair to joy.
The specific therapeutic properties of poetry have recently been confirmed in children hospitalised with neurological disorders or experiencing the trials of chemotherapy. Here the combination of daily readings from an anthology (including ,for example, poems by Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti) and their own efforts at writing had a measurably beneficial effect in reducing anxiety and promoting cheerfulness.
More generally poetry ‘gives us the words and images for our emotions when we struggle to find them’ notes the writer (and occasional contributor to this paper) Rachel Kelly. Her personal anthology ‘You'll Never Walk Alone’ originated in a severe depressive illness in her forties when she found her spirits lifted, if only briefly, by reciting to herself, mantra like, familiar poems. George Herbert’s “Love bade me welcome”, in particular, “kept me sane”.
Once recovered and inspired by this experience, she went on to run a series of ‘Healing Words’ poetry groups learning from others of the transformative effects of poetry in their lives whilst deepening an appreciation of its meaning. Every anthology needs a structure and hers ingeniously is organised according to the seasons because “we too have seasons of our minds, whether wintry and dark or spring-like and hopeful”.
This week’s query comes courtesy of Mrs HJ from Bolton who wonders whether any others might have the same odd experience that sometimes overwhelms her when attending the theatre. “I begin to feel really quite ill” she writes, “first sweaty then nauseous with the urgent need to get to the loo”. She is a lot better when out of the auditorium though curiously at this point she yearns to be ‘icy cold’. This has never occurred in the cinema. It is possible this may be a variant of migraine, perhaps relating to the lighting levels ,but further suggestions would be most welcome.