The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1900-12-28
SCARLET FEVER.
A Few Words from the Board
Of Health

of Health.
1t is quite probable that Milbank
and the surrounding country may be
visited by an epidemic of scarlet-fever
this winter: indeed there are now
several families in the city and i'm
mediate vicinity as well as in Roberts
county, near Corona, who are afflicted
with the disease. And that the citizens
OF the town and country may fully un-
J derstand the dangerous nature as we'll
as the contagious and infectious char
acter OF the disease | deem it proper
at this time to give few words of
advice as to the proper way to isolate
those cases sick, and the correct man
ner to disinfect the premises where
the disease has prevailed, believing
in the truth of the old adage "that
an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure lso,ation-There
are but few diseases that are as in
fictitious as scarlet fever and the pa
} tient and the nurse should be isolated
to as great a degree as the surround
many instances where the houses are
small, this can be done but very i'm
perfectly; when possible however, the
patient and nurse should have a
separate room; an upper room pre-
ferred. When this plan is followed,
and the other precautions strictly com
piled with, the disease may be con-
fined to the first one taken, and the
other members of the family escape.
A large proportion of the poison in
the system is eliminated by way Of the
skin and the involvement of large
surfaces renders 1t necessary to keep
the air of the room at an even temper
ature: this should be somewhere about
So or 70o +. The room should be
we'll ventilated and exposed to the
sunlight. The child should be kept in
bed until desquamation or the peeling
process is nearly or quite completed
this will take from three to five weeks.
Everything in the way of clothing
and bedding except what is actually
necessary for the comfort of the child
should be removed from the room.
The bedding, clothes and towels can
be disintected, but the floor should be
left bare, or covered with rugs which
could be afterwards burned, along
with other articles which would not be
worth the trouble of disinfecting. All
excretion should be passed in strong
solution of carbolic acid.
isinfecting-Presum the child
is now we'll, it should now be thor
oughly washed, first in solution of
corrosive sublimate 1000: this should
be done under the supervision of a
physician or competent nurse. and inn
mediately after in warm water to re
lieve irritation of the skin, after which
the child should be put into clean
clothes, which Of course have not been
exposed to the scarlet fever contagion.
The. bedding should be burned, but
If this is not done, it should be washed
in solution of corrosive sublimate
lo00 and afterwards cleansed with
soap and boiling water. The micro
organisms adhere so tenaciously
that it would be far better if the bed
and bedding We're never used again
All articles that could be dispensed
with should be burned.
Next comes the room. This must
be disinfected, and it is no easy task to
do it thoroughly. The usual practice
of burning sulphur which is SO COM
monty resorted to is Of no consequence,
f and has been demonstrated to be
utterly unreliable. Formaldehyde
gas is quite efficient, but it requires an
expensive generator, which would rem
! der it impracticable in many cases,
but the following manner is eminently
satisfactory and is within the reach
, of all. The wall and ceiling if paper
ed should be thoroughly cleaned, all
! paper should be scraped off and burn
= eu. lie wall. cclilIg, WoOu WOIh,
and floors should be washed with a
solution of corrosive sublimate | oOt
7 and afterwards with soap soft soal
, preferred and warm water. The
room. after having been disinfected
! as described should be exposed tc
> fresh air by leaving the windows
4 open for several days, after which th'
. floor and wood work should be re
!. painted and the wall and the ceilin.
3 covered with new paper. There shoult
], be no half way manner Of doing thl
i work, for as stated before, the micro
! organisms adhere with great tenacit.
y to all objects with which they come il
contact, and unless the person who un
dertakes the work is thoroughly i'm
bued with the thought that what i
worth doing at all is worth dom
L H.,