Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-03-21
DANGER IN \ SHAKE.
4 LEARNED ulsQUIslTioN ON DIS
 CASE TRANSFER.

~e-Sh'NAAs'
 Is 1t possible for one man to commu- nicate disease to another by the shaking of hands?
 If this question be true, should the custom be abandoned or should it bs modified under medical instruction so as to minimize the danger?
 The existence of cro-organisms inimical to life and health has been es. tablished beyond dispute. Dr. Breiter founds his thesis, recently printed in The Medical Record. on tois bypothe- SIS. But his leading point, insisted up- on with much force, is the danger which IS hidden in the apparently harmless and sometimes pleasing custom of shak- ing hands. He says:
 .'That the surface of the human body IS very hotbed for the propagation of great variety of micro-organisms Fuerbinger, Mittman, Bizzozero, Ma glera and Welch have elucidated most conolusively. It is certainly beyond the shadow of a doubt that in the presence of predisposing factor and sometimes even without that the microbio diseases are ushered into existence by their indi- vidual prototypes, this being essentially brought about by contact in some way of the two contingent forces Modern surgery is founded on this principle. The carefulness with which we prepare our hands and surgical instruments be- fore and after 8 surgical operation we'll exemplifies the importance of famil- iarity with its dangers in every sense.
 We recognize that many of our mi crobie diseases especially of the exam thematic type, eliminate their toxic eie- ment very largely through the medium of the skin, which undergoes extensive exfoliation, disseminating the poison far and wide. Isolation is resorted to and enforced most vigorously, thereby check. ing the spread of the disease, and then disinfeetants layishly used cause the de- struction of the offending armies. h the era of scientific prophylaxis eonse- quent upon the introduction of the mi croscope, baeteriology and antiseptics we find steady decline of epidemics either developing in the outer world or in our hospital wards. Yet accidental inoeulations of tuberculosis, smallpox and vaccinia, as well as more horrible diseases, still exist and are but demon strations of either an unavoidable cause or faulty observance of established data. J
 Dr. Breiter gives thorough discus sion as to what may be the result of con- tact of the hands. He declares that with men who are of cleanly habits but who have acquired disease and such as they would wish to hide from their fellow men, the specific bacillus of this disease has been found in filth collected from the hand. He has found tubercle bacilli in the dirt taken from the hand of ths man suffering from tuberculosis, the Klebs.Loeffler microbe among cases of suspected diphtberia and had no doubt that the specific germs of every nllcrobic disease may and would be feund in mil lions on the surfaces of the hands if proper experimentation were made. He proceeds as follows:
 Many victims of scarlet fever, both in tie early and desquamative stages, especially the latter, are walking the streets of every large city ready to in. graft upon tho moist hand of any chance acquaintance the prolific virus of the disease. The same may be said of per sons with pulmonary tuberculosis, whose hands and handkerchiefs, through constant wiping of the mouth, are foul and saturated with the bacteria laden expectoration of the disease. Tubercu- losis of the hand, the lesion large or small in area, often painless and un, recognized as such for long while and perhaps untreated, is by no means an infrequent occurrence. Seabies, we know, has 6 marked predilection for the hand Need l mention others? Now whether these conditions are the result of hand to hand contact or not does not matter The conditions themselves ara dangerous clements, and it is the con- sideration of such factors in the causa- tion of disease that we are studying.
 ''Of course the mucous membrane serves as a better pabulum for the inva- sion and development of micro organ isms, but the skin is not absolutely neg ntive in that respect, and if 1t were it would make little difference, as the tyY.o, skin and mucous membrane, are very often in close opposition with each other We know that the hand has car ried bacteria to the mouth, disseminat- ing eontagion in that way. Typhoid fe- yer, Asiatio cholera diphtheria and oth- CT diseases are known to have been pro- duced that way. Why search through medical libraries for similar and per haps more conclusive evidence? The subject has passed the stage of novelty. So while we professional people are by roncc., e n.,. .cr.nfnesi1rl fnrcad tc i,a1zi ts.