Page 3 Advertisements Column 6

Patea Mail, Volume I, Issue 99, 22 March 1876, Page 3

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SPUE All OF TYPHOID FEVER. Drawn up by William Cole. M.A., M.D., Oxon., F.R.G.P. Loud., Medi c;il Officer of Health for the combined districts of East Herts : and circulated by the Sanitary Authorities. riIYPHOID, enteric, or'gastrib leier JL are the names given to one and the same infectious disease, this being a fever produced by excremcnlal poisoning and almost invariably accompanied by diarrhoea. Of all cxcrcmental matter, the most poisonous is that which comes from persons themselves ill with the fever; and it is principally by means of their stools that the disease spreads from one person to another. r The poison' may be taken in by breathing the ’ effluvia from these discharges, or from 1 the •"•privy, cesspool, or drains into which they have been emptied ; or by drinking* water' from wells into which they havesoaked",, or by swallowing particles that have adhered to clothe.-', bedding or other objects, and thence been accidentally transferred to articles of food or cooking utohsils/ ;; Destruetiomof tlni fever poison ih'lhestools, the moment these leave the body,; by means of disinfectant's, and (inas- ; much as the action of disinfectants i> not thoroughly certain) thc : safe disposal of the stools them selves, are : the means’ by which wc should try to prevent the disease from spreading. , ■' • Let all persons, therefore,, Who would 1 keep themselves and their neighbours’ free from infection, observe -strictly the following rules shnold the disease occur in their houses; 1. Remove at once from the sick-' room all carpels,' curtains, and other objects likely to get fouled.' , 4 2. Keep every one whoso presence is not absolutely necessary out of the side room, and by means of,open windows' and open doors give the patient as much fresh air as possible. .*. .. ;1 g i Put a pfeccpcif waterproof ’sheeting.' under the- bed clothes, in the'middle -of the bed, so as to prevent the bed from getting soiled. ' o ;’ 4. Put a teacnpfnl of the following' disinfecting fluid into abed-pan or other vessel each time before the patient uses’ it, and add .some more immediately' after -Soda Water, a gallon ; sulphate of iron (he., copperas), a pound; car-, holic acid (the common impure kind), half’a pint. In preparing this fluid the iron should -first be dissolved by stirring" in boiling water, and the 'carbolic acid’ added when the iron is dissolved and the fluid cool. Remember that carbolic: aeid is a poison ; keep the mixturetherefore in a safe place. The same fluid may be used with great advantage, to disinfect any accumulation of filthy sttch as a dung-pit or cesspool. .As a* general rule two quarts will suffice-to disinfect one cubic foot of foul matter."' ■ hj. Take cafe that the discharges am thoroughly mixed witli the disinfecting’ fluid, and then carry them immediately' into the garden or field, and bury them, in a deep trench, previously dug for the! purpose, as far as possible from any well, or other water supply. On no account, let them be thrown on to a refuse heap. If the house be in a town, and without a garden, so that the stools must of. necessity lie thrown down the closet, add a double allowance of the disinfectant, and take care (hatfhc emptying, ho done without splashing the-seat, and that the closet be Hushed until basin and pan are thoroughly chum. .. .. {!. Lot bed and body linen, imnio-' diately it is taken off, be put into a tub; of water, to which carbolic acid has been added, in the proportion of half a pint of acid to a bucket of water. Have the’: tub and fluid ready prepared and at hand' before the linen is fal-en off. Lot the 1 linen soak in tin’s for two hours, and* and then let it be actually boiled iru washing. On no account must the linenbe sent to a laundress without thorough - previous disinfccfrChy her without informing her of its character, so that she ' may not wash it with the linen of other person's.’ • 7. Let the nurse observe the most, scrupulous care to keep everything dean. Let her wear a dress of washing material,;, as this is more easily disinfected than woof. .-.Asher hands must almost unavoidably get soiled in helping the patient, .let them wash them, frequently in ; water to whTch.some disinfcctiiigfluid lias been added/ and - let Iter take care that the'-water thus used, as well as another ..slops, -he emptied carefully into the garden trench.-. . v : 4 ■ ; 8. When the' iflnes's is over, the hod' if soiled, should be burnt; or the tick or sacking cover may he disinfected hy thorough boiling, ahd' the Hldclc or straw stuffing burnt. > Should:there be a disinfecting oven available,the stuffing of chard-mat-trasses may-be ■ teased out flliclotheue disinfected by l baking at a • 'temperature of 2f>odeg. F; Otherwise this also should-be destroyed. 1 9. If fever be in your neighbourhood • hut not:ns yet in your house, -take the. following precautions to keep it out: -4-Drink no water that is open to the • least suspicion, or, if you can get noother/hoi! it before drinking. Use no closet or privy that is used hy houses in which there is already fever. Give immediate notice to the '.Sanitary Inspector .of any nuisance in your neigh - bourhood, such as a stinking drain or gaily, heaps of offensive refuse, and the • like. Use all your influence'influence . to insist upon the proceeding precautions • being strictly .. carried out .by \oucneighbours whose houses are already infected.