Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-12-06
DIPHTHERIA EPIDEMIC
IN THE TOWN OF MINGO. AND SEVERAL
CASES REPORTED here.
Health Officer Mccoy Says There is No Cause for
Alrm-Ihs City in Good SAM
tary Condition.

For a week or ten days exaggerated
reports have been In circulation re
garding the prevalence of diphtheria IL
this city. As matter Of fact there art
a number of cases, and the necessity
for taking proper precautions to pre-
vent a spread of the dread disease is
emphasized by the fact that there are
more cases to-day than week ago
Citizens should look after the sanitary
condition of their homes and surround
lngs before it is too late.
In Bellare and other cities in thi!
vicinity, great many cases are report
ed, while at Mingo the situation Is
alarming. A special dispatch to the
REGISTER from Steubenville, received
last night says:
THE public schools and Sunday
schools and churches in Mingo JuHc-
ton, have been ordered closed by the
Board of Health, and all Christmas
entertainments have been aban'
doned by them on account OF
six deaths caused by diphtheria,
and fifteen additional cases reported.
Children and adults have also been noti-
fed not to meet in the town. Business
is at a standstill, aud the place has a
deserted air. Diphtheria is raging in
several parts of the town."
A REGISTER reporter interviewed
Health Officer Mccoy yesterday after
noon.
THE situation is not at all alarming"
he said, "but you cannot too strongly
urge the people TO take the proper pre-
cautions TO prevent the disease from
obtaining strong foothold. or all dis
eases di phtheria is one of the most malig-
naDt ana most fatal. Itwould say that
about two-thirds Of the cases prove
fatal. Within month there have been
but five deaths from diphtheria, but a
number of new cases have been re-
ported,
what measures Of precaution would
you suRgest?"
I'm the first place, the city was
never before in such excellens gen.
eral sanitary condition. Wheeling
creek. which receives the ofal
and filth through the sewers, is
menace to the health OF the com
munity, but / do not see what we can
do to purify il. Citizens should place
their premises in the best sanitary con-
ton. Dlphthera is a disgrace to any
city, as it can always be traced TO
especial unsanitary conditions.
Ceases Of diphtheria and scarlet fever
should be quarantned as smallpox Is.
Both are Infinitely worse than smallpox.
In every prominent city 10 the country
such cases are Quarantined, but Wheel.
ing has an ordinance which provides for
quarantining cases OF contagious
diseases, but mentions only small
pox cases. There should also be
a law to compel the immediate and
private burial OF persons dying of these
diseases, and the hanging out Of flag
at the house, as In smallpox cases"
WHAT THE LAW IS.
fSEC OF the ordinance in relation to
Health Officer," etc, says:
'SEC. 5. The Health Officer shall have
authority to prohibit any person from en-
tering or leaving any house, or the premi-
SEES attached thereto, where any person
NAV be found diseased with smallpox,
varioloid, Asiatic cholera, or other fOrmid.
able contagious disease, if communication
with such diseased person would, in his
opinion, be prejudicial to the public health
ana for this purpose he may cause the
house containing such diseased person To
be guarded, and in addition, shall desig.
nate said house by flag of yellow flannel,
not less than l2XlS in size, TO be suspended
from said house in such position as TO at
tract the attention of passer-by. ED.
Proceeding, the Health officer said
"Some time ago, we'll known citizen
came to me for burial permit. His
child had di Of diphtheria advised
him to bury the little one at once, but
he thought he knew better than and
he was obstinate. The child was buried
TWO days later. and within three days
the mau came back for burial permit
for b other child, who had previously
been in the best of health. Another
man, against my advice, had public
funeral for his child, with lots OF flow
ers. all the ueighbors present, etc, and
eight girls acting as pail-bearers.
III the people understood the terri
BILE nature of diphtheTia and scarlet
fever, as the physicians do, there would
be fewer deaths from those diseases"
There have been recent cases Of per-
sons who regarded it as brutal in their
family physician insisting upon the I'm
mediate and private burial OF their
children who died Of diphtheria. 1t
would seem that they forget their duty
to the living in their grief and their
anxiety to show proper respect for the
dead. There is no cause for alarm in
the situation in Wheeling, but there are
cases of dipbtheria and scarlet fever,
which are contagious diseases, and gen.
orally prove fatal, and the proper pre-
cautions should be taken In time. The
cases so far reported are merely spo-
radio.
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