The Cairo bulletin., 1911-04-24
- ------s-,.
DANGER Lies IN
Germ HUNTING
Plainly Shown IN Recent Death
Of Or. Ashley.
NO PLACE For THE COWARD

\
Health Officers Must Guard Against
10 Danssrous--Soms Cases Quaran-
tine Officers Have 10 Deal With.
Smallpox No Longer Feared.
The death Of DIR. Edward +. Ashley,
psychological expert on the quaran-
tine STAFF Of DR.. Alvah Fl. Doty, chief
health officer at the port Of New York,
who was killed BY malignant spinal
meningitis, contracted ia the course Of
al autopsy, throws light upon the
risks that every man faces who
chooses to help defend the public
health against infectious Diseases.
Germ hunting has never been a safe
profession either in yellow fever
camps or at quarantine stations.
ain this line of work a man has to
be an enthusiast" said Dr. Doty.
'.Fcarlessness IL as essential char
acteristic Of the men who work with
me down here as it Is OF soldiers. Be
fore man III chosen he IL looked over
very carefully, with the result that
our stan is composed Of none but pick
ed men.
"When recruit arrives here he re-
Allies the proposition that he IL up
against hard work and constant risk
OF contagion that may end fatally.
For awhile the novice. like tho soldier
| In HIS first fight. may be conscious Of
| his personal danger But that feeling
never lasts long. If 1t should quaran.
tine station would be no place for
| him. "A man soon becomes 50 bound
| up In his work that he forgets the
personal element entirely. This is 80
| not merely theoretically; It Is so actual
| " In practice
| Diseases which are all In the days
work at quarantine have rates Of fnor'
tality ranging from 90 TO 80 per cent
Sometimes there VIII be mild assert.
ment OF diseases 10 be turned away
from the gateway OF the country Al
other times the whole energy Of the
department will be aimed against one
enemy. Such case occurred last
summer, when New York was threat
ened with cholera.
| Night and Day Work,
| To prevent even the mildest cases
from passing the barrier, steamships
were held up when any on board fell
the slightest indisposition Until thu
cause Of that indisposition was fount
the boat was kept anchored In the bay
Some of the boats thus held III wer'
ocean liners carrying large numbc
OF passengers, all Of whom were cage
to reach New York with the least pos
slble delay. This meant night and da.
work for the doctors, especially for tn
] psychologists, for the test for choler
involves protracted labor besides sew
erai hours for growing cultures.
Samples would perhaps be brough
to the laboratory In the evening. Th
psychologists would start In after dir
ner and work till midnight. In. thes
emergency cases, after a few hours
, sleep snatched at the station Itself, tn
, doctors would start 10 again at
o'clock, 80 that the investigation Nigh
/ be completed at s. and the complainin
passengers could be landed after breal
fast.
Work of this sort. with Its constan
effort and occasional spasmodic strair
Is not only likely to make the ma
1 mora Suanopfthta IN diSataa htit tn M
derrnine his health directly In som
cases man by various methods ma
to q considerable extent protect hin
= self against the diseases which he ha
! to meet Vaccination win prevent cor
, taglon from smallpox. In all case
systematic cleanliness will go n lon
way toward preventing infection. Blu
the strictest attention to these prir
ciples will not prevent contagion whe
man has to carry a sick chid ashor
In his arms, as he often does.
Jail Fever Hard TO Handle.
One Of the worst diseases the qual
antine officers ever have 10 deal wit
il typhus fever. which used to b
called Jail fever No form of inoculi
\ ton and no prophylactc measures al
Of any avail against this disease. II
germ OF which has never been disco
cred. The doctor who deals with
must rely largely on luck and stron
constitution. An epidemic Of th