The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-02-03
Prevention and Cure of Scarlet Fever.


The Boston Board Of Health has issued
a circular Of recommendations to the peo-
pie of Boston relative 10 the scarlet fever
now prevailing in that city, with the hope.
they say, that those not familiar with the
cure Of the disease may be benefited by
their instructions. The advice they give
may be Of use in preventing the increase
of the great scourge of the little ones.
The circular is as follows
Scarlet fever is like smallpox in its
power to spread readily from person to
person. 1t is highly contagious. The
disease shows its first signs in about one
week after exposure, as general rule, and
persons who escape the illness during a
fortnight after exposure may feel them
selves safe from attack, Scarlet fever
scarlatina, eanker, rash aud rash fever are
names Of the one and the same dangerous
disease. When a case of scarlet fever
occurs in any family, the sick person
should be placed in room apart from the
other inmates of the house, and should be
nursed as far as possible by one person
only. The sick chamber should be well
warmed, exposed to sunlight and well
aired. Its furniture should be such as
will permit of cleansing without injury,
and all extra articles, such as window
drapery and woollen carpets, should be
removed from the room during the sick
ness.
The family should not minsle with other
people. Visitors to an infected house
should be warned Of the presence of
dangerous disease therein, and children,
especially, should not be admitted. On
recovery the sick person should not min
gle with the well until the roughness of
the skin, due to the disease, shall have
disappeared. A month is considered an
average period during which isolation is
needed The clothing before being worn
or used by the patient or the nurse should
be cleansed by boiling for at least one
hour, or if that cannot be done, by free
and prolonged exposure to outdoor air
and sunlight The walls of the room
should be dry-rubbed, and the cloths used
for the purpose should be burned without
previous shaking. The ceiling should be
scraped and whitened the floor should be
washed with soap and water, and carbolic
acid may be added to the water-one pint
to three or four gallons. The infected
clothing should be cleansed by itself and
not sent to the laundry. In case of death
from scarlet fever the funeral services
should be strictly private, and the corpse
should not be exposed to view Because
children are especially liable to take and
to spread scarlet fever, and because schools
afford a free opportunity for this, the
Board Of Health has excluded from school
every child from any family in which a
case Of the disease has occurred, and has
decreed that the absence shall continue
four weeks FROM the beginning of the
attack, except in cases subject to the
discretion Of the board, and that the
scholar to be re.admitted to his schoolroom
must have the certificate of a physician
that the required time has passed
A physician of considerable eminence,
in England, DR.. Henry Pigeon, writes to
the London Lancet on his treatment of
that scourge of many families, scarlet
fever. He says he has found sulphur
almost specific for the disease. He
anoints the patient twice daily with
sulphur ointment, gives from five to ten
grains of sulphur in little jam three
times a day, aud burns sulphur in the
room of the patient twice daily. He says
that he has given this treatment extended
trial for over two years, and that under it
not one Of his patients was more than eight
days in making a complete recovery,
although the cases were well marked, the
surface skin on the arms coming away Ike
the skin Of snake. The record Of his
statement made in the Lancet is repub.
lished here, not to stimulate home doctor
ing in the case of pronounced disease, but
as a mode of treatment, supported by eyi-
dence of its efficiency which makes it
worthy Of consideration by physicians who
have not given close study to that mode
Of treatment. The use of ulphur in this
and similar diseases we are aware is not
new, but an exclusive use of sulphur in
ternally, externally and for inhalation,
seems to be the specific adopted by DR..
Pigeon.