The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-04-01
Precautions against the Spread of Typhoid
Fever

ChCA
The following yrecaution sagainsi tLe spread of
typhoid fever have been drawn up by William
Oglc, VI. \. NJ. D. Oxon., F K. {. T., Lond..
Medical Officer OF the Board of Health Tor tine
combined districts of Fast Hcrts, and circulated
by tie sanitary authorities. Typhoid, enteric,
and gastric fever are names gwen to one and the
same infectious disease. this being . fever pro-
duccd by excremental poisoning, and almost IN
variably accompanied BY dIarrboa. OF all e1cre-
mental matter the most poisonous is that which
comes from persons themselves i'll with the fever;
and it is principally by means of their stools that
the disease spreads from one person to another
The poison NAV be taken IN by bre thing the
efauvia from these discharges, or from the privy,
cesspool, OF drains into which they have been
emptied. OF By drinking water from wells into
which they have soaked, or by swallowing parti-
ces that have adhered 10 clothes, bedding, or
other objects, and thence been accidentally
transferred 20 articles of food or cooking utensils.
Destruction Of the fever poison in the stools,
the moment these leave the body, by means OF
disinfectants, and (~inasmuch as the action OF dis
infectants il not thoroughly ~certain) the safe
disposal Of the stools themselves, are the means
by which we should try 10 prevent the disease
from spreading.
Let all persons, therefore, who would keep
themselves and their neighbours free from infec-
ton, observe strictly the following rules, should
the disease occur in their houses;-l. Remove at
once from the sickroom all carpets, curtains, and
ONAANA 49, ""A~- -
one whose presence is not absolutely necessary,
out of the sick-room, and by means of open win
dows and open doors give the patient as much
fresh air DIS possible. 3. Put n piece of water
proOf-sheeting under the bed-clothes, in the mid
die of tie bed, SO as to prevent the bed from get
ting sOiled. 4. Put a tea-cGpful OF the follow
ing disinlecting fluid into a bed-pan or other yes
sci each time before the patient usas it, and add
some more Immediately after Soda water, a
gallon ~sulphate of iron q. e., copperas), a pound;
o,rI,1Sa aid EEha MN MIR EIn6N 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. Remembe that carbolic acid
is IA 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 rule
two quarts will suffice to disinfect one cubit foot
of foul matter. 5. Take care that the discharges
are thoroughly mixed with the disinlecting huId,
and then carry them Immediately into the garden
or field, and bury them in n deep trench, pre-
viously dug for the purpose, as far as possible
from any we'll or other water supply. On no ac-
count let them be thrown on to a refuse heap. 1T
the house be in IA town, and without a garden. so
that the stools must of necessity be thrown down
the closet, add a double allowance of the disin-
fectant, and take care that the ~emptying be done
without s~plashing the seat, and that the closet
be flushed until basin and pan are thoroughly
clean. 6. Let bed and body linen, Immediately
it is taken off. be put into a tub OF water, to
which carbolic acid has been added, in the pro-
portion 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 taken off. Let the linen
soak in this for two hours, and then let 1t be ac-
tually boiled in washing. On no account must
the linen be sent to a laundress without thorough
previous disinfection, nor without informing her
of it's character, so that she may not wash it with
the linen of other persons. Z. Let the nurse OBJ
serve the most scrupulous care to keep everything
clean. Let her wear a dress Of washing material.
as this is more easily disinlected than wool. As
her hands must almost unavOidably get solled IN
helping the patient, let her 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. g.. When the
illness is over, the bed, il sOiled, should be burnt,
or the tick or sacking cover may be dlsIntected
by thorough boiling, and the flock or straw stuff
ing burnt. Should there be a disinfecting oven
available, the stuffing or hair mattresses may be
teased out and then disiniected by baking at a
temperature of 2500 F. Otherwise this also
should be DESTROYED. The floor of the sick room
and the bedstead and other furniture should be
thoroughly scrubbed with soft soap and carbOlic
acid. All the implements and utensils that have
been in use in the sick room should be well scald-
ed. The dress worn by the nurse should be dis
infected with carbolic acid and boiled, as directed
in the sixth paragraph. 9. If fever be in your
ncighborhood, 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 get 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 neighborhood, such as a sinking drain or
gully, heaps of offensive refuse and the like. Use
all your influence to insist upon the preceding
precautions being strictly carried out by your
neighbours whose houses are already infected.