"IN THE AIR."

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 287, 26 June 1917, Page 4

"IN THE AIR."

How often one hears the expression that some disease or other is "in the air," and in consequence many people walk about in fear and trembling, almost afraid to breathe lest they inhale the particular germ that is supposed to be lurking about in the atmosphere. Until quite recently it was generally believed that diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, malaria, and yellow fever, not to mention typhus and plague, came from the air. But Dr. C. V. Chaplin states positively that the air cannot carry disease, and he is supported by a large number of medical authorities. The real spreaders of illness are contact with an infected person, water, food, flies, and other carriers of a similar nature, all oi which can, in a more or less degree", be combated by cleanliness, by proper attention to dustbins and other refuse, filters and disinfectants. So instead of being terrified when next you hear that such and such an illness is in the air, look arouad you and see to it that you are getting pure water, dean food, that your dustbin is in a sanitary condition, and not in a state in which it will breed flies, and other creatures of dirt.