Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-02-10
L Diphthsria contaxtous y

Under this title the State Board of Health
has just issued a circular for general distri-
button. The facts presented in this docu-
ment are Of such vital importance and i'm.
mediate interest that We present it to the
earnest attention of our readers. 1t says:
This circular is published for the pur-
pose Of correcting a Misrepresentation which,
70 some extent, exists in the public mind re-
garding the question Of the contagiousness of
diphtheria. Unfortunately every year there
are found persons or committees which are
not yet quite sure that diphtheria is infectious
and like the person who proves whether the
pistol is loaded or not by aiming it at his own
| or somebody's else head and pulling the
trigger, these doubling persons often infect
themselves, their families. or their neighbors
and keep up and provide sources of infection,
which insure the non-extinction of the disease.
The direct communication of the disease is
shown in the following instances.
young lady came home sick with diph-
| iberia in a mild form, anf'on her arrival her
brothers and sisters embraced her They
were all attacked with a maligant type OF
diphtheria, and one died The young lady
visited her aunt in another family where there
were four children, who took the disease and
one died No other cases in the vicinity
| T,25G.)
At the death of child from diphtheria
two women helped in laying it out. One of
them, who was fifty three years of age. was
attacked in few days and died in three
more. The other took the disease in light
form and recovered. III, III
boy who had the diphtheria in Boston,
came to this State to visit some relatives. In
few days after his arrival his aunt washed
some of his clothing and was taken with
diphtheria the next week, and it went through
the family, four cases. Before the aunt was
taken sick the boy went to another place and
played with another boy. who took the diph-
liberia and gave it to two other persons in
family. Ct, 1872
An only child was taken sick with the
diphtheria and died on the fourth day. The
young mother in her grief kissed the child
and took the disease. Within week she
was buried beside the child. II, 26l.)
In 1881 there had been no diphtheria in my
neighborhood for nearly four years. The
school teacher, during the summer vacation,
went to the city, a notorious hot-bed for
diphtheria. While there he contracted what
he called a slight sore-throat He returned
with this still upon him and opened school.
In less than a week there were six lying sick
with diphtheria and the school was closed.
As the children spread the disease in their
several families, it resulted in five deaths,
three of which were adults. q, 78.)
In the following cases the infection was
communicated indirectly through the medium
of clothing or otherwise
Three children in one family died of diph-
iberia in the croupous form. The nurse be-
lieved it was not possible to carry the disease
in clothing and said she would not change her
dress upon leaving the house, and that she
was not afraid to take her children in her lap
upon going home. She admonished
against such foolhardy course. She told
the neighbors week after returning home
that she did not change her clothing after
coming from the infected house, "And," said
She "my children have not got the disease 3"
Ten days after she left the infected house the
physician was called and found her fami y
with diphtheria of the most fatal form. one
child died in thirty-six hours after it was at
tackled. These were the only cases that oc-
CURED anywhere in the neighborhood of the
nurses home. at is needless to remark +,
that nurse now believes it is very con-
tagious." q, 1872
A lady went from Maine to help care for a
family sick with the diphthera. Two of the
patients died and one recovered. Three
weeks after the recovery of the last patient,
and after dslnfection of the house and the
surviving persons the lady returned to her
home in a section of this State where diph-
iberia had not been known for a long time.
Five days after her return her only daughter,
a girl of thirteen, took the disease and died.
q, 1872
A woman died of diphtheria in Lynn,
Mass. Her son brought her clothes and bed
ding home, his wife washed them, took the
IL.
| 1879 The cases like these, which unmis-
takably show the contagious nature of diph-
liberia, are innumerable, and at the same
time there are innumerable instances in
which diphtheria has not been communicated
to others though others have been exposed
to it. What does this prove? Not by any
means that the disease is not contagious but,
as in scarlet fever, smallpox, cholera and
the plague. that all persons are not at all
times susceptible to the infection. Another
thing which makes the infection of diph-
liberia doubly dangerous is its persistent
vitality Many cases like the following show
| that unless care in disinfecting and otherwise
be taken, the infection will survive to start
mysteriously another epidemic at some future
tme-months or perhaps years afterwards.
4 hoy whose home was in Perry visited a
family in Eastport where there were cases of
diphtheria. He took the disease in light
form and recovered. Upon his return his
sister. aged sixteen, took the disease and
died in three days Six months afterwards
another sister came from Massachusetts, and
occupied the room which had been the sick
room She took the diphthera and died
after five weeks sickness. Oh, lll,)
A little girl nine years of age was found by
the physician to have diphthera in a malig-
/ Il IL, 4, Ia,s ffar artls
The sanitary condition of the place seemed
very good and no other cases of diphtheria
were in the neighborhood. 1t was ascer-
tanned that the grandfather, of whom the
child was very fond, and in whose lap she
would sit much of the time, had come from a
| neighboring town to spend a few weeks with
them-that in the family eight months previ-
ouslv there had been several cases of diph-
liberia, one fatal The children had been
sick in a room adjacent TO which was clothes
press where the old gentleman's clothes had
hung. He had had no occasion to use them
until the present visit to his daughters. That
clothes-press had not been disinfected I'll,
So
These cases, with many more which I'M
mstakably show the dangerously infectious
character of diphtheria, were reported In the
first two volumes of the Report of the State
Board of Health. aud the citation after each
refers to the volume and page where it may
be found. 1t is hoped that by calling atten-
ton to this subject in this special manner
every person and every community may De
| influenced to be careful not to spread the
disease and to demand of every other person
and of every other community the same re-
gard for the rights and the safety of others.
! The assurance that disease is contagious or
infectious is an assurance that it lisa prevent
able disease
County Finances
The following figures from the Forthcoming
report of the County Treasurer show the
financial standing of the county at the begin