St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-02-20
Diphtheria.

The following circular is just issued
by the Boston Board of Health for the
purpose of placing before the public
certain well-attested facts, and remind
ing all persons that greater care should
be exercised to prevent the spread OF
this much-dreaded disease:
Diptheria is contagious and infectious
and may be easily communicated, ell
Their directly or indirectly, from person
to person. 1t may be conveyed directly
in the act of kissing, coughing, splitting,
sneezing; or indirectly by infected ar
ticles used, as towels, napkins, hand
kerchiefs, etc. The poison clings with
great tenacity to rooms, houses, articles
of furniture and clothing, and may &C.
casion the disease, even after the lapse
of months. Diptheria attacks all classes
at all ages, and at all seasons of the
year. BY preference it attacks children
and those who are debilitated from ex-
posture to filth, dampness or foul air
from whatever source.
When a case of diphtheria occurs
in any family, the sick person
should be placed in a room apart from
the other inmates of the house, and
one person only. The sick chamber
should be we'll warmed, exposed to sun
light and we'll aired; its furniture
should be such as will permit of cleans
ing without injury, and all extra arti-
cles, such as window and table drapery
wooden carpets upholstered furniture
and all hangings, should be removed
from the room during the sickness. The
physician and nurse, as rule, should
be the only persons admitted to the
room.
Visitors to the infected house should
be warned of the presence of danger
GUS disease therein, and children, espe-
cially should not be admitted. All
clothing removed from the patient OF
| the bed should be at once placed in
boiling water or in a tub of disinfecting
| fluid e OF. sulphate zinc, l OF. carbOlic
acid and 3 gallons of water) by the
nurse before being CARED through the
house or handled by any other person
They may be soaked in this fluid for an
hour and then placed in boiling water
for boiling. 1t is better not to use
handkerchiefs for cleansing the nOstrils
and mouth of the patient, but rather
soft rags, which should be Immediately
thereafter burned. All vessels for re-
ceiving the discharges of the patient
should constantly contain some disin-
fecting fluid. Water-closets and privies
in the house should be disinfected daily
with a solution of copperas, two pounds
to a gallon of water.
| Every kind and source of filth in and
around the house should be thoroughly
removed and disinfectants freely used
Cleanliness tends both to prevent anG
mitigate the disease. Drains should be
put in perfect order and ventilated by
four-inch straight pipe extended
above the highest point of the roof Of
the house in every instance, terminal.
ing at distance from any chimney OIL
other ventilator. Children in the family
should not attend school or mingle with
other children until the patient has
wholly recovered, and all infected arti-
cles have been disinfected.
On the recovery or death of the pa
tient the most thorough disinfection
cles in it should be at once subjected tC
the fumes of burning sulphur as fol-
lows: Close the room tightly, and burr
two and one-half pounds of sulphur to
each thousand cubic feet of space. AT
ter four or six hours open the room and
expose it to the air and sunlight for g
week. Anything that can he boiled
without injuring may be so treated
The walls and ceilings should be dry
rubbed or lime washed, and the floor:
washed with soap and water, to which
may be added a little carbolic acid
When death occurs the body should b.
Immediately placed in the coffin, witt
disinfectants, and the coffin tightly an,
finally closed. No public funeral shoul,
ever take place at the house where tn
patient died, nor elsewhere, unless tn
coffin remains hermetcally sealed.