The Dermott news. (Dermott, Ark.) 1910-1977, 1915-07-22
Condition Serious

Condition Serious
There are still some people who
despite proven and established facts,
refuse to attach any seriousness to the
fly as menace in the carrying of di-
sease The outbreak of typhoid fever
in this county furnishes new and
emphatic reason for increased vigilance
and precaution along this line. This is
not a notion and not hobby that any
body is riding. and those who refuse to
regard the fly and those conditions
which produce flies as menace to
health are simply showing ineXcusable
ignorance and criminal Indifference to
an absolutely vital condition.
The report of State Health Officer
DR.. G. W. Garrison as regards con
ditions at Lake Village was published
in Mondays Arkansas Democrat, and
states conclusively that the trouble
there is not due to the water. 'Evl-
IDENTIFY, the report states, the cpl
demic of typhoid in Lake Village was
due to contact and to flies.
The possibilities of typhoid epidemic
should make everyone sit up and take
notice and should make fly fighting the
order of the day. Opposition to the
stock law recently enacted by the city
council has perceptibly cooled and the
hope is being generally expressed that
it may be made effective at once in
stead of at the end of 40 days as pro
vided at the time of its enactment.
This is the first great step needed in u
hy-hghting campaign. but eternal
vigilance and unceasing activity will
be required if proper results are to be
accomplished.
This phase of the war being waged
against sickness and disease Is becom-
ing more pronounced not only locally
but over the entire country. The fol
lowing article copied from the current
issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association is one example of
the 4 * being done and the facts as
certaiped concerning the flies, dirt and
other pneventable causes of sickness.
FLIES AND SICK BABIES
The Bureau of Public Health and
Hygiene of the New York Association
for Improving the Condition of the
Poor, in cooperation with the depart
ment of health. has conducted an in
vestigation into the relation between
l. IL.
the occurrence of diarrhea in small
children. 1t was desired TO determine
whether the house fly is the chief
carrier of diarrhea or whether dirt in
the home and artificial feeding are more
deadly factors in this serious conditi ton.
The cases investigated were divided
carefully into a Unprotected group and
a fly-exposed or control group These
groups We're made az similar Is 1t was
possible to make them. The infants
were visited every five days by nurses.
The hy-eXposed or control cases re
ceived all the instruction given in child
hygiene work, but no special emphasis
was laid on eliminating the house fly,
In the protected group the greatest
emphasis was laid on the absolute pro-
lection of the baby as far as possible
from contact with flies For the infant
in the cradle. in the go-cart. on the
bed and even in the arms the constant
use of netting was insisted on. Over
thousand yards of netting We're dis
tributed among the protected families.
Some of the results of the study are
now being published in order to EN-
phasize its lessons for the present
summer. 1t was found that almost
twice Q.9) as many infants We're at
tackled by diarrhea among tly-eXposed
as among the Unprotected infants.
Apart from the influence Of flies, it
was found that almost twice as many
infants were attacked by diarrhea in
dirty homes as in the clean homes.
The most important factor for child
mortality, however. was found to be
artificial feeding. Nearly two and a
half q. y times as many infants We're
attacked by diarrhea among the artiti-
cially fed as among the breast-fed in
fants. The influence of flies and dirt
combined was found to be almost ex-
actly equal to that of artificial feeding.
even in reasonably good surroundings.
Almost two and a half (24 times as
many fly-exposed infants in dirty homes
were attacked by diarrhea as We're fly
protected infants in clean homes. The
combination of dirt and artificial feed
ing made life extremely difficult for
the infant Considerably more than
one out of two of them were attacked
by diarrhea Concrete studies of this
kind in detail can scarcely help but be
of great service in impressing the fact
that disease among children is not a
mysterious dispensation. but the result
of common factors: flies, dirt and arti-
fetal feeding.