Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-01-04
VALUABLE ADVICE.
An Eminent Physician Tells How Diph-
liberia Should BE Treated.

An Eminent Physician Tells How Diph-
liberia Should BE Treated.
DR.. George NJ. Sternberg. in the Lamb
prize essay on the "Disinfection and
Individual Prophylaxis against Infec-
tious Diseases" given by the American
Public Health Association, devotes
page to the methods of avoiding diph-
iberia. He says that insufficient nour-
ishment, the malarial poison and I'M
sanitary surroundings, are predisposing
causes to the disease. The diphtheritic
poison is capable of increase indepen-
IDENTIFY of the sick. in damp, foul places,
such as old sewers, damp cellers, and
especially under old houses in which
the floors come under the surface of the
ground, leaving damp. unventilated
space. At all events, DR.. Sternberg says
diphtheria often clings to such houses in
spite of the application of the usual
means Of disinfection. There is no
doubt of the influence of bad hygienic
conditions in maintaining the infection
when the disease has been introduced.
and it is possible that such conditions
may originate diphtheria. Prevention
is best secured by complete non-inter-
course with the sick, the avoidance of
infected localities, and care to exclude
all persons and articles coming from
such houses from contact with house
keepers or children. The disease is
often spread by thoughtless persons who
visit the sick-room, and even kiss the
infected patients, and then, without
any disinfectiOn, fondle healthy children
in other places, and perhaps transmit
by kiss the infectious material that
has adhered to their lips. The disease
may be transmitted by pet animals.
But it is the discharges from the throat
and nasal passages which are especially
dangerous.
DIR. Sternberg says the little bag of
camphor or cotton wet with carbolic
acid which the fond mother ties about
her child's neck to ward off diphtheria
or scarlet fever at school are of no use.
Nothing but thorough disinfection of
the premises and keeping away from
the contagion will do. All damp and
dark places should be aired and cleaned.
ventilation should be secured under
every cellar and floor. Plenty of good
fires should be maintained in stoves
and CRATES, and abundant air admitted
to every room. There is no specific
for the disease; it is not known TO be
due to any special germ. Children
should be isolated. put in a room up
stairs, or distant from the general liv-
ing-room. No public funerals should
be permitted. If possible. the sick
room should be deserted and fumigated
with sulphur every few days. The
room should be steamed by a pan of
boiling water on the stove for an hour
1t should then be closed tight; the key
hole and cracks closed with paper
pasted on. Then tub with an inch of
water is set in the middle of the room,
and the sulphur is burned in a pan
supported on bricks in the water to
avoid fire. The sulphur is mixed in
with cotton batting. pound to a bed
room and two pounds to living-room.
The cotton and sulphur are moistened
with alcohol, ignited and the room
closed for two hours or all night Only
in this way is the disinfection thor
ough. All rags, handkerchiefs. towels.
sheets and garments near the sick
should be burned or boiled for a half
hour. The sick-room should be as clear
of furniture as possible. Carpets.
stuffed chairs and bric-a-brac should
be removed from the sick-room.
Friends and visitors must be kept out.
and the attendants should be regarded
rs infected persons. The mother should
not care for the sick child and at the
same time have the family in charge.
There must be division of labor and
household and sick-room quarantine
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