The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-06-26

] hence right In advocating purlncat1On
of all water supplies not obtained
from perfectly pure sources. Purifi-
cation and consequent freedom from
disease germs may be secured either
by filtration on a large scale or on
emergency by treatment with calcium
hypochlorite bleaching POWDER
Even carefully protected water sup
plies from thinly settled districts are
liable to accidents. In Germany this
is recognized to the extent of requir-
ing the publication of all surface
waters used for city supplies.
In country districts, also, water
may be vehicle of typhoid infection.
Wells so placed as to receive drain
age from privies are a source of dan
ger. In limestone regions the beau
tiful but treacherous springs need to
be examined with special care, since
the so-called springs are often only
small surface streams and brooks
which emerge at the surface after a
longer or shorter flow through I'M
derground channels. If seen in the
beginning as brook the water would
be recognized by every one as COM
ing from dangerous localities, while
as a Spring it might be drunk with
out suspicion of it's filthy origin.
Deliberate water drinking is not
the only way in which typhoid fever
may be contracted from polluted
water. 1t must be remembered that
while bathing in polluted water,
either salt or fresh, one may acct
dentally swallow small quantities of
water, and this has been known in
number Of instances to give rise to
| typhoid fever.
Measures to prevent the spread of
typhoid fever by means of water sup
| ply may be summed up as follows:
Our first endeavor should be directed
to preventing in every way possible
the entrance of typhoid germs into
sewers or into privy vaults. To this
end, thorough disinfectiOn of all dis
charges from the body of a recog-
nized typhoid patient must be carried
out. In spite of all precautions some
typhoid bacilli will get into the sew
age, and hence such sewage must be
always regarded as probably infec-
chn,,1d hn lynnf ant nf
all water sources used as drinking
water supplies. All the usual meth
DDS of treating sewage such as sedi-
mentation, precipitation, filtration,
and the like diminish the danger of
water-borne typhoid fever even If
they do not altogether remove it. A
more effective barrier against typhoid
bacilli in water is the publication of
the water supply itself by storage,
filtration or treatment with bleaching
powder Finally, if municipal meth
oGs are inadequate and there is rea-
son to fear that typhoid bacilli some
times get into the water mains, Sc
curity against water-borne infection
may be obtained in the household by
boiling the water for five minutes.
In the country the purity of the
drinking water rests largely in the
control of each family Shallow wells
should be protected against surface
wash and should be so located that
the contents of privy vaults and out
houses can by no possibility leak
through the soil into the well water.
Deep driven wells protected from
surface contamination constitute
particularly safe source of supply.
Milk-Bolne Infection.
Milk, like water, can be the means
OF introducing typhoid bacilli into
the body. Several hundred well
marked epidemics of typhoid fever
are on record which have been traced
to milk containing typhoid germs.
The bacilli may get into the milk in
various ways. When a person suf-
fering from a mild or unrecognized
case of the disease is engaged in the
collection or distribution of milk, or
when flies have access to the contents
of privy vault in which typhoid
bacilli happen to be present and at
the same time have access to the milk
house, or when milk cans or bottles
are rinsed in impure water just be-
fore filing, or are not sterilized after
removal from house in which ty--
phoid fever prevails, the possibilities
of infection are clear enough. Unlike
water, milk may serve as medium
for the multiplication of typhoid ba-
cilli so that a small amount of in
fected milk mixed with other milk at
a creamery may lead to the distribu-
ton of many more bacili than were
originally present. Such multiplied
ton probably goes on for only lin
tied period while the milk is still
quite fresh. The danger of infection
from buttermilk or from butter made