HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 June 1943, Page 4

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

NOBODY WANTS YOUR COLD. HOW TO STIFLE INFECTION AT SOURCE. (By the Department of Health.) New Zealanders don’t seem to be able to cultivate the habit of keeping their coughs and colds a personal affair. They want everyone else to share •hem, it appears, and to that end they mingle unreservedly with crowds and spread infection on a lavish scale. Every time a person with a cold loosens a cough or a sneeze he sprays the air around him with a barrage of germs. The only check to that is to cover the nose and mouth every time you feel a cough or a sneeze coming on. In that way you prevent the germs from attacking innocent bystanders.

Use your handkerchief. It's not much to ask, and it’s the most effective way of stifling infection at its source. Think of the other fellow, and incidentally make him think of you. If you see a friend sniffling and coughing, make a point of asking him to keep his cold to himself.

With large bodies of troops constantly on the move the danger from infection spreads considerably, and the need for proper care becomes more and more important. Look at it from the angle of the war effort. Spluttering and coughing over others in buses and places of amusement is a sure way of reducing the civilian war effort and keeping part of the armed forces inef-fective-just a form of sabotage, in fact.

Don’t do it. Don’t be scared to use your handkerchief, and if you've got a cold of any sort don’t be scared to stay indoors for a day or so until it clears up.