The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1912-02-15
Health Board, After Almost
Criminal Neglect Gets
After Epidemic.
APPOINT QUARANTINE OFFICERS
Health Department Directed to Make
Arrangements to Examine Cultures
From Threats of Victims and Doctors
Must Make Early Reports,

after delay almost criminal the
keposha board of health made up of
the mayor and the members of the
common council was called together on
Tuesday afternoon at sthe request of
City Health Officer DR.. John B. Spald-
ing to take some action on the scarlet
fever epidemic in the city and now
that seven children have been sacri-
feed to the disease the city is going
to take the most rigid steps to prevent
a further spread Of the disease.
The health officer was directed to
secure throat culture cups and al in
cubator for the development of tie
cultures, two men were ordered put on
by the chief of police whose whole
duty will be to enforce quarantine
regulations, anti-toxin will be furnish
ed free to the poor by the city and at
reduced rates to those people who are
able to pay for it and last but not
least the city health officer is going
to make personal investigation Of
the manner in which fever patients
and the people taking care of them
are isolated. With the view of en-
forcing guarantees the health officer
was empowered to put pad locks on
all houses quarantined if he found
that the quarantine was being violated.
The meeting was a decidedly inter
esting one and it brought ont most
prominently the fact that Keuosha has
been playingrluck against lives in the
handling of contagious diseases. Many
incidents were revealed which showed
that quarantines which have been es-
tablished in the past have been of lit
tie or no effect and that people who
had been living in houses with fever
patients were running the streets, at
tending nickel shows and riding in
street cars. 1t was shown that one
man who was nursing child Ill with
the fever was working in his saloon
during the day and engaged in making
sausage which was sold to foreigners
who were his Gust Health Of
fcer Spalding pleaded ignorance of
these conditions. He admitted that
he had not made a personal investiga-
tion of all the cases which had been
reported. He declared that the fatal
ties had resulted from a complication
of scarlet fever and diphtheria and
that it had been impossible 10 save the
lives Of the children on account of
the fact that throat cultures had not
been made.
The board of health agreed to pay
Doctors Spalding and Bernstein at the
rate of fifty cents a case FOR the De-
velopment of the throat cultures and
in the future investigation will be
made, Of every case reported regardless
as to whether it is scarlet fever or
diphtheria.
The city clerk this morning sent a
formal notice to all physicians in the
city ordering them to report all cases
of scarlet fever and diphthcria and
all suspicious cases within an hour :f-
ter they are discovered and the health
officer was directed to maintain quar-
antines- over all of these cases regard
less of the diagnosis Of the physician.
The entire police force of the city
is to be at the command OF the health
department il, it is found necessary to
use it to prevent the spread OF the
disease. The first real facts in regard
to the fever situation were found in a
report submitted to the members of
the school board by Mrs. NJ. Elizabeth
Stikel, the visiting nurse, and this
showed that there had been a total
of forty-six scarlet fever cases since
the first Of January. Of this number
seven had died and the deaths had
been confined to three families.
4 The report showed that thirteen of
the patients had been students at the
Balm school, five at the Frank and one
each at the Deming, st. George, Ger
man Lutheran and Polish schools.
Three of the patients were factory
workers who had contracted the
disease supposedly from riding in
crowded cars with people who carried
the disease germs.s The remaining
twenty patients we're children too
young to attend any of the schools Of
the city.
Mrs. stikel was of the opinion that
rigid enforcement Of quarantine rules