Page 4 Advertisements Column 2

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 114, 13 May 1876, Page 4

PIIECAUTJONB AGAINST 'I HE ST EE AD OE TYPHOID EE V Drawn np I> y AVii.uam Golf. AT.A - , M.D., Oxoii., E. ILC.T. Loud., Aledi fill Officer of Hfiiltli for tin* com 1 >iii<‘<l districts of East Herts ; and circulated by tlie Sanitary Authorities. rpVPHOH), enteric, or gastric lever, arc the names given to one and the same infections disease,-this being a fever produced by excremental poisoning and almost invariably accompanied by dianiiina. Of all excremental matter, the most poisonous is that which comes from persons tlicms. Ives ill with the. fever ; and it is principally by means of their stools that the disease spreads from one person to another. The poison may he taken in by breathing the elllnvia from these discharges, or from the privy, cesspool, or drains into which they have bam emptied ; or by drinking water from wells into which they have soaked : or by swallowing particles that have adhered to clothes, bedding or other objects, and thence been accidentally transferred to articles of food or cooking utensils. Destruction o? the fever poison in the stools, the moment these leave the body, hy means of disinfectants, and (inasmuch as the action of disinfectants is not thoroughly certain) the safe disposal of the stools themselves, are the means hy which we should try to prevent the disease from spreading. Let all persons, therefore, who would keep themselves and their neighbours free from infection, observe strictly the lollowing rules shnold the disease occur in their houses: J. Itenune at once from the sickroom all carpels, curtains, and other objects likely to get fouled. i. Keep every one whose presence is not absolutely necessary out of the sick room, and hy means of open windows and open doors give the patient as much fresh air as possible. Tut a piece of waterproof sheeting under the bed clothes, in the middle of the lud. so as to prevent the bed from getting soiled. 4. Tut a tenonpfnl of the following disinfecting fluid into a hed-pan or other vessel each lime before the patient uses it, and add some more immediately after ;—Soda water, a gallon ; sulphate of iron (i.e., copperas), a pound; carbolic acid (the common impure kind), halt a pint, in preparing'this fluid the iron she ild first he dissolved by stirring in 1 oiling water, and the carbolic acid added when the iron is dissolved and the fluid cool. Eemember that carbolic acid is a poison ; keep the mixture therefore in a safe place. The same fluid may be used with great advantage to disinfect any accumulation of filth, such as a dung-pit or cesspool. As a general ride two quarts will suffice to disinfect one cubic foot of foul matter. o. Take care that the discharges are thoroughly mixed with the disinfecting fluid, and then carry them immediately into the garden or field, and bury them in a dee]) 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 ueeessity be thrown down the closet, add a double allowance of the disinfectant, and take care that the emptying be done without splashing the seat, and that the closet be flushed until basin and pan are thoroughly clean. d. Let bed and body linen, immediately it is taken off, be put into a tub of water, to which carbolic acid lias been iidded, in the proportion of half a pint of acid to a bucket of water. Have the tub and fluid ready prepared and at band before the linen is taken oil’. Let the linen soak in tin's for two hours, and and then let it lie actually boiled in washing. On no account must the linen be sent to a laundress without thorough previous disinfection, nor without informing her of its character, so that she may not wash it with the linen of other persons. 7. Let the nurse observe the most scrupulous care to keep every tiling clean. Let her wear a dress of washing material, as'this is more easily disinfected than wool. As her hands must almost unavoidably get soiled in helping the patient, let them wash them frequently in water to which some disinfecting fluid has been added, and-let her take care that the water thus used, as well as all other'.slops, be emptied carefully into the garden trench. 8. When the illness is over, the bed if soiled, should bo burnt; or the tick or sacking cover may be disinfected by thorough boiling, and the flock or straw stuffing burnt. Should there be a disinfecting oven available,the stuffing of hair mattrassos may be teased out and then disinfected by baking at a temperature of 250deg. F. Otherwise this also should be destroyed. 9. If fever be In your neighbourhood but not as yet in your house, take the following precautions to keep it out; —Drink no water that is open to the least suspicion, or, if you can got no other, boil it before drinking. Use no closet or privy that is used by houses in which there .is already fever. Give immediate notice to the Sanitary Inspector of any nuisance in your-..neigh bonrhood, such as a stinking drain Or gully, heaps of offensive refuse, and the like. Use all your influence influence o insist upon the proceeding precautions teing strictly carried out by vour beingh hours whose houses are alrady in-, footed, ,