THE CAMP COLD

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2691, 10 February 1916, Page 6

THE CAMP COLD

WHY OPEN WINDOWS ARE NEEDED (By "A Physician" in the Londoa "Daily Mail. 1 ') Remembering the extraordinary outbreak of cerebro-spiual meningitis at lrentham last wiutcr, the following has a special interest l'or the New Zealand soldier:— Of all diseases which the war has intensified none has been studied by tlia medical profession with more painstakmg care than cerebro-spinal meningitis or "spotted fever" as it is more l'oii! erally called. This disease, which over, cook a large number of soliders last year, is the subject, in the first-war number of the "Practitioner," of a symposium by a number of the leaders or the medical profession. Spotted lever, as is pointed out by Sir "William Usler, last year for the first time in our. medical history prevailed as an epidemic. All the specialists who contribute to the "Practitioner's" war n.imber agree that the conditions favouring another epidemic are well within our control. Inquiry into the causes of last year's epidemic brings out two broad factsMn?m Va ' e ! 1C ° conn " on c °Ws and tiie niluente of overcrowding in ill-venti-lated barracks and houses. "The concentration of human beings, particularme to hp'th reeru ' t ? 111 cam P> seems to tor " Sir w"?? 1 lm Portaut single factor, ha \\. Osier says. "Katicua lowers resistance, wet and cold and the m,!ti SlVe use °f tobacco favour pliarv"a li catai ' rll (common colds): too «l t6 niih 8 u V enfcs are overcrowded, nights are cold, blankets thin: what wonder that the men close the windows and lace up tile tents tightly so r.hat the air becomes foul! The carrier do« dlStr l blltillg thc gorm t0 a ened V 8 reslstance is weakTlie carrier is a person who may not I t - b ° : S ! ,ften "fs from tiie disease outh rneS m KCnus somew l'ero in liis mouth or throat and coughs or snee.es tnem out from time to time goes snottorl a f °" r pre ' UUfc kuow toes, spotted fever "carriers" art rare. i„ any case) ou( . jn ewL° , ?n a - per?o ? these teims in myriads without very niiich chnH er i - )assc - r,s " by > but a soldier or a child sleeping m an overcrowded room is \ery likely to infect his neighbours, particularly when they are fatigued or otherwise run down. = or That the makeshifts the military authorities were occasionally forced to rew«r« rt V l6 earl the were the chief cause of the various spot-ted-fover outbreaks among the troons is only too well proved. "I oLe °mv " '?vr?t« l u e - " Wflr contributors writes, six men in a room in whicli I would not put three; tlioy were quarnmWlm V 'l ™<lows were shut, and the door was shut until I opened it ; the men were sleeping on mattresses on the floor. One of them said, 'Wo nave got to shut the windows to keen Si t 7 rar ?.' 1 tbink the P u blic health authorities and the medical officers in charge of camps should hear thes« points in mind." It is not alone in the Army that precautions are called for. According to Dr. Kollcston, temporary Surgeon-Gen-eral of tho Ivayy, from the beginning of the war to July 15 last there were 170 oases m the lloyal Navy. It j s estimated that about two people in every hundred carry the germs of spotted rever about with them, and under favouring conditions these may infect a laige number of, susceptible persons, not alone m barracks, but in theatres, churches, and other places where crowds congregate. To counteract tho danger of epidemics Dr. Halliday Sutherland (Boval Aavy) suggests: "AJI windows must bo kept open day and.night, and to prevent the necessity for closing them owing to strong winds it is well to have a weather-board fixed outside the window at an angle of 45deg. Cold is to be guarded against by suitable clothing, by woollen underwear, thick, socks, furlined; gloves, sleeping stockings, and, if necessary, by hot-water bottles. As damp garments draw heat from tho skin, all clothing must be dry. and dry-ing-rooms availablo for wet boots and clothes at all times should be provided."