Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-12-28
HEALTH REGULATIONS.
OonsaSi0us Diseases should he Re
ported AT Once.

contagious Diseases should BE He.
ported AT Once.
There has time and again been a good
deal of complaint on the part of the
health authorities about the negligence
of the people to report to the Health
Officer such cases Of infectious or con-
tagious diseases as happen to come under
their observation. DR.. H. s. Orme, of the
State Board of Health, calls the atten-
tion of the people to this matter as fol-
lows:
The prompt reporting of contagious or
infectious disease to the health authori-
ties is leading and clearly defined prin-
ciple in sanitation, for obvious reasons.
Cases of such nature must be known, in
order that we'll people may be protected /;
they must be known early, or the disease
will have spread beyond bounds, and the
danger become general, or preventive
measures may even become useless. |Of
cour: it is matter of serious consequence
TO family, and still more to town or
city, to make public the existence OF a
contagious disease in its midst-to hold
il as an object to be shunded; and here it
may be seen, on superficial consideration,
that business and sanitation are antago-
nistic. This mistaken view is often
taken by individuals and communities,
in their own supposed interest, and with
out regard to the interest of others. No
greater mistake could be made. With
eoacealment, no efficient measures can be
taken to prevent the spread of contagious
disease its prevalence soon becomes too
notorious ior further suppression of facts,
and the actual facts become magnified by
exaggeration as the news travels. But
the evil does not end with the present
punishment, aggravated as it is by neg
lect of the timely work of stamping
out" A settled distrust is created in
the minds of neighbors and even in dis
tant communities. They are afraid of re-
peated deception, and imagination pic
lures dangers that have no existence of
magnitude beyond bounds of reason.
The protestations Of exemption from
disease are met with contemptuous re-
ference to the past, or with distrustful
silence no less intractable.
An impressive example of the mis-
chief of concealment has just been pre-
sented by fever stricken Florida, where
the presence of pestilence was denied un-
til concealment became no longer pos
6lUlc, duu WueIc tuc OppOIbuulty lOI
keeping the disease within narrow
bounds was lost. The fruit of deception
remains to be harvested in future years,
and it must be consumed in all its bulk
and bitterness at home. Such for many
years was the inevitable repast of New
Orleans, from the former habit of deny
ing the existence of yellow fever, until
its prevalence became notorious. The
misleading terms "pernicious" and sac
climating" at length became so familiar
that they were accepted by strangers as
Synonymous with yellow where applied
to fever. Even now many people at a
distance believe that this fever prevails
there every summer, though there has
not been a case since 1882; and strangers
regard that city with adherence during
the hot season, though the lowest NOR
tality in late years has been in midsum-
mer. Surely truth telling is true policy
in sanitation, as fair dealing in business
transactions is the sure and only way to
win confidence, earn clean reputation
and achieve substantial and lasting pros
perity. Better that boom be lamed or
even dislocated, than that the reputation
for salubrity be lost, or even seriously
questioned. Though Los Angeles so far
has not suffered from yellow fever. the
recollection of smallpox is painfully
fresh, and the moral is plainly pointed,