CONT GIOUS AND INFLO. TIOUS DISEASES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1067, 6 October 1882, Page 4

CONT GIOUS AND INFLO. TIOUS DISEASES.

r u the bet Government Gazette the •Colonial Secretary has republished for •general information a number of hits'ructions concerning the measures to be adopted in preventing f he spread of -scarlet fever,diph'lieriu, smallpox, .fee, issued bv the Provincial Board of Health of Onta’io, Canada, jmd published in the National'Board-of ''ealth ‘pull ct in. at Wash i n gton , Uni edStates •of America, on 17th Jun", 1882. The 'lnstructions are on various points, comprising those tor “ disinfection ofdwellin,rH afte recovery or death, .fee. Ihe •lollowingis the concluding poitinn : 'PRECAUTIONS FOR WILL‘PEOPLE TO AVOID SCARLET FEVER, D PHTHERIA, AND SMALLPOX. Avoid exposure to special contagion •of the disease'; more danger for chil--dren than for adults. Do not, there fore, let a child go near a case. Do not permit any person or thing, dog, eat, or ether animal, plaything, letters, <fec to come direct 'from a case of these diseases to a child, unless previously d sinfected under competent snpervi •Hon. If you do visit a case, bathe yourself, especially hand, fac , and hair, in a disinfectant solution, and change and disinfect \our clothing before you go where there is’a child See that your residence, premises. &c. are ii.pt clean and dry; that the sevverconnections are well trapped and drains well ventilated. Never allow passages fr< m persons sick with the disease to be placed in water-closets or privies, but have them attended to as iu sections 7 and 8. Give special attention to purity of milk supply. Do not. allow a child to ride in anv vehicle -where there is suspicion of infected persons having travelled. Avoid exposure to wind and cold dry air. Do not wear or handle-clothing worn by a person during sickness or convalescence from these diseases Beware of any person who has a sore throat or running at the nose. Do not kiss on take the breath of such a person. Do not drink from the same cup or put pen in your mouth. In the case of all those diseases remember that the contagion may be stored up from one season to another ■■if not destroyed. Bo not let it be so stored, and see that your children do not visit a house where one of these . diseases has been, ever though some ■■months have since elapsed, unless you know the house, clothes, &c have been then-uglily disinfected, In the case of smallpox too much ■ cure cannot he taken to see that every person who has not been vaccinated within seven years be vaccinated or revaccinated. If vaccii at : on has “ taken wll” a few years before, this is, if anything, an exra reason for revaccmatinn Persons who have-had smallpox may take ji again. With f’gard to all these diseases rememb.r that a mild form in one person may originate a severe form in another. In connection with this object it should be remembered that too much attention cannot be paid to surroundings in general, such as drainage, ventilation, food, wftimth, etc Temperature and rainfall have much to do with the spread of some of these • disras’s—diptheria for example, which is ten- rally hast prevalent.in August, increasing tr til January, and with the same regularity declining again until August; most fatal in lowest and •worst-drained parts of cities. Exa- . mine re'ative position - f wells and yprivies. Where city water is used iu--vestigate sou cc of water supply, and -•place of debouchure of seweis (out-break-of diphtheria in Naples, 1872, -dearly traced to contaminated water). ■ln country districts, isolated out'breaks, traceable to cesspool effluvia, are not at all uncommon. Frequently "will -be found the -water-closet drain -discharging into a cesspool cleaned -out only at rare intervals, gas generated in cesspool having no outlet ex- • cept through water closets and into the house.; hence diphtheria and other -diseases. In cities, where pi-oper attention to the trapping of all vvaste•pipes leading t > sewers is too frequently •taken tor granted, examine carefully into arrangement and ventilation of -drains ; ascertain whether, in conse--quence of attention not having hen ■duly paid to the trapping of overflow, 1 lavatory, and every other waste pipe, gases are not being conveyed in sun--drv ingenious ways into the various apartments they were presumed to be •excluded from, that the plumbershave not, in other words, succeeded in ventilating the house drains, and thererfore of course the sewers, into the bed--rooins.