Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1881-09-01
PRESERVE THE HEALTH.
Sanitary Precautions 10 Prevent Oh,
Spreading Of Infectious Diseases.

/
health publishes the following memor-
andum Of sanitary precautions against
l the spreading Of contagious and infec-
tious pOisons, because most Of them can
be " stamped out, and all of them can
be controlled. These rules are applica-
bic to any locality:
Cleanliness and ventilation are in all
cases and everywhere Of the first I'M
/ portance. The diseases which are
spread chiefly from place to place and
from person to person by means of
their own infection or cor tagion are to
be regarded and treated as enemies, to
be resisted and stamped out. The propa-
| CATION Of some Of them with the help
OF local causes, seen or unseen, and the
fatality, as well as spread, of each one
of them is increased by personal un-
cleanliness and local unhealthfulness.
Diphtheria, measles, scarlet fever. ty-
phoid fever, puerperal feverand smallpox
are the most pestilent of these infec-
tious diseases in this State. But ty-
phoid fever and malignant cholera are
Infectious by means OF excrementaI
matters rather than from bodily ema-
nations. Typhus spreads by its per-
sonal contagion, and originates among
crowded and uncleanly people. These
diseases and all infections and conta-
gions require disinfection and all sani-
tary precautions that prevent infection.
Smallpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria or
measles. The patient should be kept
In separate room preferably on an
upper foor) from which, if possible,
carpets, curtains, stuffed furniture,
clothing and other articles not re-
quired for immediate use, should be
removed beforehand; and no person
except the physician, nurse or parent
should be allowed to enter the sick
room, or to touch any of the articles
used therein, until after thorough dis
infection.
TO disinfect clothing, etc, in the
sick room.-Keep in the room tub
containing q quarter of a pound of sui
phate Of zinc and two ounces Of com
mon salt to each gallon o. water. All
bed linen, towels, clothing, handker-
chiefs, etc, used about the patient,
should be allowed to soak in this solu-
tion for at least an hour before re-
moval from the room, and afterward be
thoroughly boiled, separate from the
rest of the family washing. Never send
such articles to public laundry.
To disinfect discharges from the
patient. the same disinfecting
fluid as in disinfecting clothing, but
three times stronger, or use copperas
water, made by dissolving pound and
half Of copperas in a gallon of water.
The latter answers for all excremental
discharges, while the former is best for
all articles of clothing and furniture.
All vessels used in the sick room should
be disinfected with one or other Of
these disinfecting fluids, unless i'm
mediately immersed in boiling water.
Disinfect the discharges and clothing
immediately.
Typhoid fever.-The poison lies in
the discharges from the bowels, which
should be at once disinfected with the
solution of the zine-salt or of copperas.
Particular care should be exercised to
prevent any possible contamination of
sources of drinking water with these
discharges. Bed clothing or other arti-
cles soiled by the excavations should be
treated with the solution, and be boiled.
Dysentery and cholera. the
same regulations as in typhoid fever.
Typhus fever.-Enforce free ventiIa-
ton and disinfection of clothing, as
above described. Attend to the fumi-
cation of the sick room and its bed
ding.
To prevent the body Of the patient
from spreading contagion.- the erud-
tive diseases, especially in scarlet fever,
the patients body should be annointep
at least twice day with oil, lard on
vaseiine, containing about ten grams Of
carbolic acid or of thymol to the ounce.
This process should be maintained un-
til the bran-like scaling of the skin is
at an end. The zinc-salt solution should
be used as directed. Before again as
sociating with unprotected persons, the
| patient should have several complete
ablutions, including thorough washing
Of the hair with soap or borax; and none
of the clothing worn for several days be-
fore the disease declared itself should
be again used until thoroughly disin
fected and ventilated in the open air
several DAYS.
Avoid visiting houses where there
are any of these diseases. Occupants of
such houses should not visit.
Disinfection of houses and apartments.
-Fumigation with sulphur is the only
practicable method for disinfecting the
house, as we'll as furniture, bedding.
ETC., that cannot be steamed or boiled.
For this purpose the rooms to be disin-
fected must be vacated. Close the rooms
as tightly as possible, place the sulphur
in iron pans supported upon bricks in
wash-tubs containing little water, set
it on fire by hot Goals. or with the aid
of spoonful Of alcohol, and keep the
room tightly closed twenty-four hours.
For room of dimensions equal to ten
feet square, or 100 square feet of floor
space, at least two pounds of sulphur
portionally increased quantities. After
fumigatlun, the freest possible ventila-
ton should be practiced. All woelen
clothing, silks, furs, stuffed bed-covers,
beds and other articles which cannot be
treated with zinc solution, should be
hung in the room during fumigation,
their surfaces thoroughly exposed, and
their pockets turned inside out After
ward they should be hung In the open
air, beaten and shaken. Pillows, beds,
stuffed mattresses, upholstered furni-
ture, etc, should be ripped open. the
contents spread out and thoroughly fu-
migated. Carpets are best fumigated
on the floor, but should afterward be re-
moved to the open air and thoroughly
beaten. Many of such articles may be
disinfected in an oven or steam-heated
tank, at temperature of from 212 de-
grees to $50 degrees Fahrenheit, main
tanned for five or six hours.
Distinction of premises, etc. Gel
lars, yards, stables, cutters, privies,
cess-pools, water-closets, drains, sewers,
ete.. should be repeatedly and profusely
4 drenched with conperas solution. witch