Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-02-18
Diphtlieria.

The following circular is issued by the
Boston Board OF Health, for the purpose Of
more widely extending ths knowledge Of
few well-attested facts concerning diph-
iberia, and reminding all persons that greater
care should be exercised to prevent the
spread of this much-dreaded disease. Its
cautions and directions are good for every
locality Diphtheria is contagious and in
fectious, and may be easily communicated,
either directly or indirectly, from person to
person. 1t NAV be conveyed directly in the
act of kissing, coughing, splitting, sneezing,
or indirectly by infected articles used, as
towels, napkins, handkerchiefs, etc. The
poison clings with great tenacity to rooms,
houses, articles of furniture and clothing,
and may occasion the disease, even after the
lapse of months. Diphtheria attacks all
classes, at all ages, and at all seasons of the
year. BY preference it attacks children and
those who are debilitated from exposure to
filth, dampness or foul air from whatever
source. When case of diphtheria occurs
in any family, the sick person should be
placed in a room apart from the other in
mates of the house, and should be nursed,
as far as possible, by one person only. The
| sick chamber should be well warmed, ex-
posed to sunlight and well aired its furni-
| ture should be such as will permit of cleans
ing without injury, and all extra articles,
such as window and table drapery, wooden
carpets, upholstered furniture and all hang
ings, 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 in
| fected house should be warned of the pres
ence of dangerous disease therein, and
children especially should not be admitted.
All clothing removed from the patient or the
bed should be at once placed in boiling
water or in a tub of disinfecting fluid 0hree
ounces sulphate zinc, one ounce carbolic
acid and three gallons water) by the nurse
before being carried through the house OF
handled by any other person. They may be
soaked in this fluid for an hour and then
placed in boiling water for boiling. 1t i,
better not to use handkerchiefs for cleansing
the nostrils and mouth of the patient, but
rather soft rags, which should be immedi
ately thereafter burned All vessels for re
ceiving the discharges of the patient should
constantly contain some disinfecting fluid
Water closets and privies in the house SHOULD
be disinfected daily with a solution of cop
! peras, two pounds to a gallon of water
Every kind aud source of filth in and arount
the house should be thoroughly removed
ana dlSln1ectantS freely USED. CLEANLINESS
tends both to prevent and mitigate the dis
ease. Drains should be put in perfect orde
and ventilated by a four-inch straight pip
extended above the highest point of tn
roof of the house in every Instance, teruiiu
ating at a distance from any chimney o
other ventilator. Children in the famil
; should not attend school or mingle witt
: other children until the patient has who'll
, recovered and all infected articles have beel
disinfected. On the recovery or death o
the patient the most thorough disinfectio
should follow. The room and all articles il
it should be at once subjected to the fume
of burning sulphur as follows Close tn
room tightly and burn two and one-hal
pounds of sulphur to each thousand fee
r of cubic space. After four or six hours
! open the room and expose it to the air an
r sunlight for a week. Anything that can b
, boiled without injuring may be so treated
The walls aud ceilings should be dry-rubbe
! or lime-washed, and the floor washed wit
] soap and water, to which may be added
{ little carbolc acid. When death occurs
the body should be Immediately placed i
the coffin, with disinfectants, aud the coth
tightly aud finally closed. No publ
! funeral should ever take place at the hous
= where the patient died, or elsewhere, unles
the coffin remains Theoretically sealed.