Los Angeles herald., 1890-11-17
DIPHTHEkIA.
TIMELY SUGGESTIONS FROM THE
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.
ease and to Counteract Its Spread
When 1t Has Taken Hold in Family.


liberia in the north of the state, DIR. G.
G. Tyrrell, permanent secretary of the
California State Board Of Health, has
prepared a valuable paper for its re-
striction and prevention. At the
present time, very unfortunately, there
are number of cases of this horrible
disease in Los Angeles, and in view of
this deplorable fact the HERALD feels it
incumbent, in the interest of it's readers
and the public at large, to publish some
of DR.. TyrrelPs valuable suggestions.
All are agreed that diphtheria, like
other zymotic diseases, is preventabe !;
that its ravages are due, in very large
measure, to neglect; to the violation, in
one way or another, OF sanitary laws,
and that, though it may not be gener-
ated by filth, it finds there a soil favor
able to its development; that it grows
and f1ourishes there, and that the
human system is rendered by it espec-
tally sensitive to morbid influences of
every kind.
In diphtheria the breeding place" is
in the throat, nose or other seat of the
exudation or membranous deposit.
There is also reason to believe that the
contagium of diphtheria is conveyed by
the excavations from the bowels of those
sick with the disease, and by water or
milk contaminated Herewith. The dis
ease seems also to be capable of being
conveyed by means of the domestic
animals, as dogs and cats, which have
frequented the apartments of the sick.
The disease having been introduced
into a family, suitable precautions
should be at once taken by strictly
isolating the sick. Other members Of
the family, especially children under 15,
should, if possible, be removed to an
other locality or to part of the house
having no direct communication with
the sick room. This latter should be
large, well ventilated and exposed, if
practicable, to the sunlight. All useless
furniture should be removed. Infected
clothing should be soaked before re-
moval in solution of eight ounces of
sulphate of zinc (white vitriol) and four
ounces of common salt in a gal
lon of water 1t is better than car
bolic acid, and has the addi-
tional advantage of being odorless.
The same solution, being stainless, may
be sprinkled over the bedding and car
pets, when the latter have not been re-
moved, or it may be occasionally dif'used
through the room by an ordinary spray
instrument, thus reaching and destroy
ing infectious particles in the atmos-
phere.
Secretions should be moved to a dis
tance and buried. Those from the nose
and throat should be received on rags
which afterward must be burned.
Nurses and attendants must keep
themselves and their patients as clean
as possible, using frequent disinfect-
ing solution for the hands. They should
not communicate with the other mem
bers of the family or the public.
! Ii death occurs the body should be
thoroughly washed in the zinc solution
and placed in tight coffin. In case o
recovery the patient should be provided
with uninfected clothing. The tenacty
of the contagious principle in diphtheria
is admitted to be very great. and the
period of time after recovery from the
disease when the danger of its commun
ication to others may be considered
past, is as yet uncertain. The room oc
cupied by the sick should, after the re
covery or death of the latter, be vacated
and completely disinfected. This is best
done by the fumes of sulphur.
In using sulphur, the rooms to be
fumigated must pe vacated. Place the
sulphur in iron pans, supported upor
bricks set in tub containing little
water, and ignite it by the aid OF a
spoonful or two Of alcohol; or place the
pan, containing hot Goals, in basin O
hot ashes, resting upon bricks. By the
adoption Of either of these plans, danger
from fire will be avoided. During fuma.
cation, the windows, doors and all fues
and crevices, by which the fumes might
escape, should be closed and so remain
for twenty-four hours. The rooms may
then be opened and ventilated for some
hours, the woodwork washed, and the
walls whitened or repapered. Two
pounds of sulphur will be required for
a room ten feet square.
In order to prevent diphtheria, clean
liness is the great prerequisite, and this
does not merely apply to the cleanliness
of the body, but to the surroundings OF
the dwelling, to accumulations OF
refuge or decaying animal or vegetable
materials in the cellar or about the
premises, to the privy, cesspool, drains
and sewer, and to the water supply,
which may be contaminated through
these sources.
1t is necessary, also, to see that house
drains are properly laid, trapped, ven