The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1882-01-13
Diphtheria

The following circular is issued by
the Boston Board of Health, for the
purpose of more widely extendingthe
knowledge of a few we'll attested facts
concerning diphtheria, 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
infections, and may be easily commun-
icated, either directly or indirectly,
from person to person. 1t may be
conveyed directly in the act of kissing,
coughing, splitting, sneezing, or indi.
rectly by infected articles used, as tow
els, 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. Diph-
iberia attacks all classes, at all ages, and
at all seasons of the year. By prefer
ence II attacks children and those who
are debilitated from exposure to filth,
dampness or foul air from whatever
source. When case of diphtheria oc-
ours 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 we'll warmed, exposed 10
sunlight and we'll aired; its furniture
should be such as will permit of cleans
ing without injury, and all extra arti-
cles, suchas window and table drapery,
woolen 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 dangerous disease therein, and
children especially should not be ad-
mitted. All clothing removed from
the patient or the bed should be at once
placed in boiling water or In tub OF
disinfecting fluid Qhree ounces sui
phate zinc, one ounce carbolic acid and
three gallons watcr) by the nurse be-
fore being carried 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 hand
kerchiefs for cleansing the nostrils and
mouth of tho 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 solution Of coperas, two pounds
to gallon of water. Every kind
and source of filth in and around the
house should be thoroughly removed
and disinfectants freely used. Clean
illness tends both to prevent and
mitigate the disease. Drains should
be put in perfect order and ventilated
by a four-inch straight pipe extended
above the highest point Of the roof of
the house in every instance, termin-
ating at distance from any chimney
or other yentilator. Children in the
family should not attend school or
minRie with other children until the
patient has wholly recovered and all
infected articles have been disinfectcd.
On recovery or death of the patient the
most thorough disinfection should fol-
low. The room and all articles in it
should be at once subjected to the fumes
of burning sulpher as follows: Close
the room tightly and burn two and one
half pounds of sulpher to each thousand
feet of cubic space. After four or six
hours, open the room and expose it to
the air and sunlight for week. Any
thing that can be boiled without injur-
ing 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 oc-
ours, the body should be Immediately
placed in the coffin, with disinfectants,
and the coffin tightly and finally closed.
No public funeral should ever take
place at the house where the patient
died, or elsewhere.