The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-10-05

an important means OF distribution.
Cause of the Disease.
When a person whose vitality Il
low. in other words. whose son Il
right for the growth, swallows typhoid
germs these germs multiply In the In
festines and are taken into the blood
in which they are carried to all parts
of the body, and are deposited in the
tissues. In the blood and tissues. the
germs form a poison, and It Is the
effects Of this poison on the different
tissues and organs OF the body. that
give rise to the symptoms Of the dis
ease. Persons sick with typhoid CON-
stantly throw of millions Of these
germs. IN the feces and urine.
It Is a simple matter to disinfect
these discharges, as they leave the pa
tent. but II the disinfection Is not
thorough at the bedside the germs
from a single patient may DO carried
by various agents, such az flies, food.
nngeam, and water. and reproduce the
disease In many others. Remember
this. every person III with typhoid fe-
ver has recently swallowed typhoid
germs, which have come from some
sSher person ID with the same disease.
Wha< Are Typhoid Germs.
Typhoid germs or bacf1i as we call
them. are so small that they cannot be
seen by the eye. unaided by a high
power microscope. It has been esti-
mated that IL twelve thousand Of these
germs were placed end to end. they
would only measure one inch In
length, but with the aid Of the md
crosccpe they can be easily seen.
They are plants, belonging to that
- s. f.crx
teria They multiply rapidly, each ba-
ciIIus forming two In about 46 min
utes.
You can readily understand how
many OF these tiny plants can be in
one drop OF water. and q glass OF
water, which looks perfectly clear, and
has no bad odor or taste, may be lit
eraily alive with these germs.
Things upon which germs grow and
thrive are spoken of as suitable me-
Ola" for their growth. Milk Is a suit
abba media, and II only few typhoid
germs are introduced into milk they
multiply rapidly.
They also multiply rapidly IN water.
so from these two facts alone, you
can see how necessary 1t is to keep
the milk and water supply uncontam-
mated
Every person who swallows these
bacteria does not necessarily develop
typhoid fever We walk down the
streets Of any city and inhale the
germs OF tuberculosis Consumption
every day of our lives, and compari-
tavely few OF us develop tuberculo-
sis.
gain. as I have said before, 1t is
a question Of seed and SOIL Germs,
like seeds; must get favorable soil
IN which to grow and multiply. You
may show great resistance to the in
vasion OF any germ today and may be
susceptible to 1t next week, or to-
morrow. know that 1t is hard for
eome OF you to believe that a tiny
thing like the germ I have described
In capable of causing all this trouble,
but lot me tell you that the once
spoken OF germ theory" is no longer
. theory, any more SO than the theory
mat some day men would be able to
~. Germs can be demonstrated and
II you are sufficiently interested to
see them. all you have to do is to
walk down to the city hall and ask
the state bacteriologist to show you
q few, and II you are still slceptical,
and want more proof, swallow a few
typhoid germs, and see what hap
pens
Contrary to general belief freezing
does not kill typhoid germs. Some
few may be killed, but so many remain
active that they are capable OF doing
great damage, and many noted cpl
denies OF typhoid have had their start
In streams which have been frozen
hard all winter and which had been
polluted before the freeze.
1t has been found experimentally
that butter, made from cream contain
Ing typhoid germs may show living
typhoid germs for as long as sixty
days.
Vegetables grown in infected soil
may have typhoid germs for weeks.
In privy vaults and cesspools ty-
phoid germs have been known to live
for a year.
Carriers.
II the germs were confined strictly
to those i'll with the disease the pre-
vention OF typhoid would be much
easier. but some patients recover from
an attack OF typhoid fever and con-
tinue to throw off typhoid baciIli In
both feces and urine, for months and
years. Such persons airs spoken of as
carriers" To illustrate. In an or
phanage in st. Louis there were As
cases of typhoid fever and six deaths
among 295 inmates in a period OF 81
days In seeking cause for the out
break. after water and milk had been
eliminated as possible causes a 13-
year-o1d girl employed in the kitchen,
who had had three attacks OF typhoid,
was found upon examination to be
typhoid bacillus carrier. Her last at
tack had occurred eighteen months
prior to the time of the outbreak"
From this you will see the necessity
Of properly disposing of all discharges
from both sick and well so that we
will run no risk of taking into our
systems contaminated food or drink
Tt has been rightly said that you
can get a fairly accurate idea of the
degree Of sanitation attained by any
by obtaining the typhoid