Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1907-08-23


cook. apparently well but who was
IN fact the host for the typhoid fever
oacill7s. Shifting from one employer
to another, she was the ca7ss of seven
outbreaks of typhoid fever twenty.
six cases before it was discovered thst
she was the source of the Infection.
The ea,l7 quarantine was against
only those forms of disease attended
by q high mortality and under !
the general term of 'rlseue', viz. {:
smallpox, cholera, yellow fever, true
pl' gue. etc. Later quarantine methods
were applied to otaer diseases such as
sca'lst fsver, measles, diphtneria, etc
"lth our present noxledge of the
facts the question can reasonably be
raised az to why We shout quarau.
tine diphtheria and not quarantine
pneumonia. tuberculosis and typhoid |
fever. We have for diphtheris an
immunizlng agent in the diphtheria
antitoxin. We cannot establish a |
long immunity with this agent, but
We can protect against and cure the
disease with aatitoxin, and believe
that more general use of this remedy
without quarantine would do more
good than our present methods of
quarantine. believe that every case
OF diphtheria and every person VINO
he's been in close contract with such q
case should be given either a curative
or a prophyl&ctic dose of antitoxin
as the case NAV demand.
''Of the so.called quarantine dis
eases In this part Of the country
smallpox. scarlet fever aud diph
tceria) it would seem that scarlet
fever is tie only one in which the:e
is the least excuse for the continuance
Of quarantine; and this for the reason
that We have as yet no known means
OF preventing or antagonizing the
spread of this disease. Even with
scarlet fever it is an open question az
to how much good is acc emphasized by
quarantine. I venture to say that
very few of those before me have not
had scarlet fever and this in spite of
quarantine. with these facts before
you, the question may reasonably be
asked. What is the future of quaran-
tine? A definite answer to this ques
tion cannot be given at the present
time. Quarantine, to be effective.
must bs Of the shotgun type, and
even this fails. Undoubtedly the
present methods of quarantine should
be modified and medical men shoull
share in the study of any proposed
change. This society of representa-.
tive medical men should appoint q
committee to consider these questions
and to confer with the state board If
health. l am sure that many
sanitarians do not sympathize with
the present quarantine method, but
the sanitarians cannot give advice in
such reform until public sentiment is
educated to the point of accepting it.
The physician Is tho great mol1er of
public sentiment In matters pertaining
to disease.
''Your state board of health has
recently made changes in it's regula-
tions relative to smallpox. While the
sentiment of the board when these
changes were first proposed was
favorable to their reasonablenss, 1t
was a question which the board con.
sidered very seriously as to whether
the people or even the medical profes.
sion would favor such q radical
change. It was for this reason in part
that the date set for changing to the
new regulations was postponed until
Jan. I. 1908. It il gratifying to the
board to learn that the general
sentiment of the profession and Of the
people throughout the state as shown
In the newspapers of the state. seems
to he in favor of the change in ne.
thods Of dealing with smallpox The
new regulations are certainly reason
able, practicable and economical.
In Minnesota We now have warn
ing cards for measles and typhoid
fever. I am not at all sure thai
such system extended to scarlet feve1
and diphtheria would not accomplish
more good than our present methods
Of attempted rigid quarantine.
i Tine ideal method Of dealing Will
So called qus1antinable diseases is tn,
immediate removal of the diseased
individual to a specially PROVIDED
hospital mot pest-house). This i
becoming quite general custom i,
the larger cities, due to q great extern
to the fact that their Inhabitants vii
not tolerate rigid houee quarantine
II this is practicable for the large
cities it is also practicable and econ
omical for the smaller cities, vlllsge
l and country districts. There shout
, be sufficient isolation hospital &C
! commodation in the thickly settle
portion of the state at least, to tax
care of all communicable diseases
1T is now a generally recognizes
: |