The Brinkley argus., 1909-03-05

! that II IS relauVeiy SeiuoiH tdi'tou
 from one case to another by articles
 of clothing, books or toys, and com paratively seldom even through a third party, except where the latter has come into very close contact with the disease. like doctor, nurse or
 mother. or-withou. dlsrespect to the preceding-a pet cat or dog.
 More than this. the bacillus must chiefly be transmitted in the moist condition and does not float in the air at all, clnging only to such objects as may have become smeared with the mucus from the child's throat, as by being coughed or sneezed upon. As with most of our germ enemies, sun light is its deadliest foe. and it will not live more than two or three days exposed to sunshine. So the princi- pal danger against which we must be on our guard is that of direct personal contact, as in kissing. in the use of spoons or cups in common. in the interchange of candy or pencils. or through having the hands or clothing sprayed by a cough or sneeze.
 The bacillus comparatively seldom even gets on the floor or walls of a room where reasonable precautions against coughing and splitting have been taken; but it Is, of course, advis- able 10 thoroughly disinfect and steril- ize the room of patient and all its contents with corrosive sublimate and fcrmaIin, as number of cases are on record in which the disease has been carried through books and articles of clothing which had been kept in damp. dark places for several months. The chief method of spread is through un- recognized mild cases of the disease, especially of the nasal form. For this reason boards of health now al- ways insist upon smears being made from the threats and noses of every
 other child in the family or house
 where a case of diphtheria isrecogniz- ed. No small percentage Of these
 are found to be suffering from mild
 form of the disease, so slight as to cause them little inconvenience and Inc interference with their attending
 school. Unfortunately. case caught Ifrom one of these mild forms may de- velop into the seyerest laryngeal type. If child is running freely at the nose, keep it at home or keep your own child away from it. A profuse nasal discharge is generally infectious. of influenza or other "eolds." if nor
 diphtheris
 This emphasizes the necessity for thorough and expert medical in spection of school-chldren, to pre- vent thess mild cases from spreading iise lse and death Is their fellows. By an intelligent combination of the two methods. home examination of every infected family and strict school nspeetiep. there is little difficulty in stamping out promptly beginning in lection. before it has hal time to reach the proportions of an epidemic. One other step makes assurance ioubly sure. and that is. the prompt injection of all other children and young adults living in the family where there is case of diphtheria with small doses of the antitoxin for preventative purposes. Its value in this respect has been only secondary to its use as cure. There are now lthousands of cases on record of chil- dren who had been exposed to diph- theria or were in hospitals where they were in danger Of becoming exposed to if, with the delightful result that only very small psr cent of these so protected developed the disease, and
 of these net single one died! This protective vaccination. however, can not be used on large scale, az in
 the case of smallpox. for the reason
 that the period of protection IS a com
 paratively short one, probably not sx-
 ceeding two or three weeks.
 Suppcsing that, In spite of all our precautions, the disease has gained
 foothold in the throat, what will be
 its course1 This will depend. first of
 all. upon whether the invading germs
 have lodged in their commonest point Of attack, the tonsils. palate and up- per throat. ov have penetrated down