Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1901-02-15
TYPHOID FEVER.
AN INsIDIoUs AND DANGER
Gus DISEASE.
Precaution, Care, Personalities and
Hints as TO it's Han
anoYaaut

prevent Infection to give few hints
regarding it which if observed may
be Of great benefit to the community.
Typhoid fever, Called also enteric
fever, gastric fever, brain fever, low
fever, pythogenic fever and, by the
Germans, abdominal typhus) is a
common and protracted disease, ter
minating fatally in about one case in
eight or ten. If the same proportion
of people in this State was affected as
statistics show are in Michigan we
would have three thousand deaths,
and from thirty to forty thousand sick
with it each year, for it is at least
as prevalent here as there.
A disease which causes so much
suffering and the loss of 50 many
lives, should be understood in its ma
ture by all intelligent persons, since
sanitarians agree that It is a disease
entirely preventable under good hy-
genie conditions.
HOW IT IS SPREAD OR CONINUNICATED
Typhoid fever is believed to be
caused by a special poison, which
specific or not, may be conveyed to
other persons by drinking water CON
taminated by discharges from the bow
els Of a person affected with the dis
ease, or by teaching from the bodies
of those who have died of it. 1t has
also been traced to contaminated
milk, which has had infected water
added to it, or has been kept in YES
sells which have been washed with
impure water, or in room adjoin-
ing one in which there has been a
case of typhoid fever, 1t prevails
most in times of drouth, when water
in wells and springs is low and the
contaminations much concentrated.
Filth and bad sanitary conditions of
dwellings probably increase the dang
er of spreading this fever which has
been classed as a "filth disease"
TINE REQUIRED TO DEVELOP.
This may be, after receiving the
poison, from eleven to twenty-one
days or even longer. The incipient
symptoms are often confounded with
those of malaria
PERSONS LIABLE TO THE DISEASE.
The greatest number of deaths oc-
ours i'm persons in the prime Of life,
but persons Of all ages have it, and
though of mild form yet this may
be the means Of communicating the
most malignent type of the disease
to others. 1t may not be, strictly
speaking, contagious, but it is GER
tainly communicable through infect
ed foods and drinks.
PREVENTATIVE PRECAUTION.
1t being communicated through
contaminated water, the principal
precaution is to protect the water sup
ply and the most scrupulOus care
should be exercised in this regard.
The we'll known out break Of typhoid
at Plymouth, Pa, where over a
thousand cases and many deaths oc-
cured, illustrates how great calam-
ity may follow the fouling Of gen.
eral water supply by the discharges Of
one sick person with typhoid fever.
Extreme care should be taken TO
prevent contamination of water by
discharges from the bowels of a per
son sick with typhoid, as by drainage
into wells, springs or other water
supply. Privies often drain into
wells unsupported. Extraordinary
care should be taken to prevent ty
phOid fever discharges from entering
any general water supply from g
well or stream. In numerous in
stances fluids from eXcreta have
leached into wells more than tw'
hundred feet away.
RULES FOR FARM AND VILLAGE.
Theprivy vault should be abolished
and the earth closet take its place
The excreta can then all be retarnel
to the earth without the least offense
When their is danger only boilei
water should be used as a beverage
this destroys the germs. Anything
which deteriorates general goo
health tends to render the system Ii
able 10 disease, and in this way filtl
may be considered a promoter. PEI
feet cleanliness should exist in IN
house and its surroundings.
CARE OF THE SICK.
The sick chamber should be q
large, airy and pleasant as possible
and should be away from noise an
with means for free ventilation viii
out the production Of draughts.
No special precautions need to
taken to isolate the patient from Ii
rest Of the family, but stranger