The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1880-02-04
3auaiian 6azette,
wEpNEspAY. FEBRUAEY !. Isl.
Is typhoid Fever Contagious {:

lrrcrn the Ninteenth Century by Dr. T, J. MeIsgan,
'-''-- author q : me Germ Theory ., Disease
Typhoid fever is one Of the most common
serious ailments of civilized life. No house
hold is safe against it. There is no family
which it may not invade. In Great Britain
alone about 200, coo people suffer FROM it every
wear. Of these nearly 10000 die, most Of
them in the prime Of life. Typhoid belongs to
the fevers called "eruptive," including small
rox. scarlet fever and measles Each consists
Of an attack Of fever Of more or less definite
duration. and Of local Inflammation or erup-
ton. During the course Of the sickness each
fsver's poison is largely reproduced IN the
system, and each may be transmitted from
the sick 10 the healthy.
Its poison may be introduced directly BY
incubation, or by inhalation, or by convey
ance in food or water. Communicable is the
general term expressing this fact Contagious
Implies that = disease is communicated by
personal contact with one suffering from il !;
infectious through food, clothing, water, etc,
infected by the poison. CoutsgIon may be
defined as direct infection; and infection as
indirect contagion. In both poison passes
from the sick 10 the healthy; but ii is an in
accurate use Of words 10 cali disease cou-
tagious in which the second sufferer had never
even lCGu III Tue SAME mouse is tic uISL.
The most distinctive popularity of the in
fectiOus matter is its power Of reproduction.
From so little small pox matter as can adhere
10 the point Of q needle, may result an erup-
ton Of thousands of postules, each containing
many times as much Of the poison as rested
on the needle-point. The poison is also Us
true 10 its kind as an acorn in reproducing an
oak, or 4 rcse-seed rose, There is no other
adequate explanation Of these phenomena than
that the poison consists of minute organisms
or germs. not gaseous or yapOry emanaIion.
The little particles Of contagion are IRE
gularly scattered about in the atmosphere.
Naturally the germs Will be most numerous in
the immediate neighborboOd of their source,
the person Of the sufferer. 4 draught may
carry them now to one side-now 10 the
other Keep the windows shut and you keep
the germs in open them and they pass out
with the changing air. Not only is free ven
tilatiou good for the sufferer, but it dimiuishes
the risk to the attendants. The germs are
apt TO adhere TO such articles. and all IN
necessary pieces Of furniture should be re-
moved lest they should be the means of con-
veying the infection to others. If the
coutagiou were is difusible as the gases
formed in the explosion of gun-powder, all
those exposed to it would soon be placed hors
explosion Of the powder, but the bullet which
IS impelled that is deadly TO the soldier; so
in contagious fevers it is not emanation
which are deadly TO those around, but the in
huiIesimal organisms given off with them. And
just as some soldiers are killed in their first
battle, while others 90 through MANY cam
paisns without receiving 3 scratch, as some
persons take typhoid fever after single ex-
pOsure, while others may be exposed months
before they suffer, and may even escape alto
gether. 1t is generally supposed that the
eruption Of smallpox and typhoid fever result
from natures efforts to eliminate the poisons
Of these diseases. But why not begin this
operation when the poison exists in small
quantity2 These LESSONS are really the result
of the action which in these fevers take place
during the propagation in It's RiduS Of the
organism which causes the disease The
passage outwards of the germs is in each case
the physical and inevitable result of the situa-
ton Of the lesion