The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-11-22

PREVENTION rs ITS AIM
No Specific Remedies Are Known
and Isolation 10 Best Means to
to. Stop its
Spread.

The great increase In the number OF
cases OF scarlet fever which always
accompanies the opening Of the
schools in the fall has caused tho
United States public health service to
issue at this time q bulletin on this
serious disease of childhood.
While the way In which scarlet
fever is spread and its prevention are
well known to health officers and ply
sicians, the general public usually neg
lects to take those precautions which
would diminish and prevent this dis
ease, SO fatal to young children.
The contagion OF scarlet fever Is
spread principally from the discharges
of the nose and throat, and the acts
responsible for the transmission Of the
disease from the sick to the well, are
those which are common in our every
day life, particularly among children:
namely, kissing, the use OF the COM
mon drinking cup and common towel,
placing in the mouth articles such us
lead pencils, candy, apples, and the
like, which have been previously
placed in the mouth or infected with
the nose and throat discharges Of per
sons suffering from scarlet fever, or
by being sprayed with such discharges
in the act of being "coughed at" or
"sneezed at"
We possess no specific remedies
against scarlet fever. The disease
once contracted must run its course.
The chief efforts for its control, there.
fore, must be directed towards its
prevention. The most important
means for preventing scarlet fever
consist first, In the early recognition
Of the cases as they occur, and sec
ond, in thorough isolation OF these
who are sick. The important thing
to remember is that child, sick with
scarlet fever who is thoroughly ESQ
lated, does not transmit the disease
This isolation must he carried out 70,
a minimum period of six weeks OF
longer II the mucous membranes Of
the nose and throat are not thorough
ly healed by that time. Safe and thor
ough isolation in the home, however
is rather difficult to accomplish and IL
usually impossible in over-crowded
city districts.
Our chief reliance, therefore, fol-
public control of scarlet fever lies
first in the provision for adequate
contagious disease hospitals where
all the measures for the isolation ol
scarlet fever can be properly carried
out; second, in the prompt reporting
by physicians OF scarlet fever cases
third, in providing suficient mum.
Der OF inspectors and visiting nurses
in health departments for the pur.
poses of visiting the homes where
scarlet fever cases occur and seeing
that proper sanitary precautions in
regard to isolation are observed; and
fourth, adequate systems OF medical
supervision Of school children: the
abolition of the common drinking cup,
the common towel the common slate
and lead pencil in all our schools.
While the habit Of putting things in
the mouth is instructive in children,
parents should early teach their chill.
dren that the only things that prop,
erly belong in the mouth are food an
drink. The danger OF such practices
as Of putting pencils, coins and the
like in the mouth, exchanging bites of
candy and apples among children, and
similar practices should be one of the
first features OF the child's education.