Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-12-12

HEALTH OF THE STATE.
A Remarkably Small Death-Rate For
This Season of the Year.


A Remarkably Small Death-Rate For
This Season of the Year.
From the report of DR.. G. G. Tyrrell,
Secretary of the State Board of Health, for
the month of November, the following
facts are cleaned:
Reports received from 1O4 localities. with
an estimated population of 1874, 400, give
the number of deaths as 992, which is a
percentage of II per l 600 in the month,
or an annual mortality at the rate of IA o.,
which is remarkably small death rate,
and indicates a most favorable condition
of the public health. The following towns
reported no deaths: Alturas, Brownsville,
Anaheim, Calico, Castroville, College City,
Folsom, Kingsburg, Knights Ferry, Lin
coin, Lakeport, Long Beach, MERGED,
Needles, North Bloomfield, San Pedro, Sau-
celtic, Sierra City and Wheatland.
In Gold Run, Placer county, there has
been quite an epidemic OF diphtherla,
which DR.. Miner attributes to the bad sani-
tary condition of the town, and the ne
glect of sanitary precautions in isolatipg
those attacked. 1t is very evident to all
right thinking people that if we desire to
limit the spread of contagious and infec-
tious diseases, such as diphtheria, scarlet
fever, smallpox. typhoid fever, ETC., law
upon the statute book will be necessary,
making it compulsory upon all physicians,
nurses or householders, to notify the health
authorities of the presence of infectious or
contagious disease wherever it occurs with
in their knowledge. If we had such law
and the failure TO notify was punished by
fine and imprisonment, we would, by
timely notification, be enabled TO con6ne
the disease to its place of origin by isola-
ton, and subsequently, by disinfection, to
destroy the contagion before it had time to
get abroad.
We will grant that with measles and
whooping cough this would be most diff
cult, as their most infectious stage is just
before the outbreak of the eruption in one
case, and OF the typical cough in the other.
Ia these cases the contagion would be
almost sure to have been diffused to a
greater or less extent before the diagnose
of the diseases could have been made. But
one of the most useful results of gIaw
making the notification of infectious dis
eases compulsory, would be the fact that
it would enable health officers to give
timely warning of infected families to the
school teachers and Trustees, so that the
children of such families could be excluded,
for the time being, from the public school,
and the spread of infection stayed. From
the culpable carelessness with which chill
dren from infected premises, or even with
the first symptoms of illness upon them,
are allowed to attend school we cannot
wonder that diphtheria and scarlet fever
are spread. OF course, a great deal of this
is through ignorance of the dangerous
nature of the injecting disease, and because
it is generally unknown that the mildest
attack in one child may produce the most
malignant disease in another. Sanitary
education will in time remove this diff
Guilty, especially when the fact is ftlly rec
ognized that these infectious diseases car
be wholly controlled by timely precautior
| and proper quarantine measures.