The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1915-01-22

instead OF placing guards armed
with shot guns, around a city infected
with yellow fever, the guards are arm
ed with Shovels and oil cans, and the
patients protected by moSquito-prOOf
netting. Thus a yellow tever epide-
mic has become almost a thing OF the
past and almost impossible for ser
lous outbreak to occur.
Likewise the bubonic plague, al
ways so serious, is coming under con-
troll. This disease is transmitted to
man by the flea first infected by rats
that have the plague. When a case OF
plague is discovered in a city, the
health officer and deputies immedia-
tely get very busy. Armies of pro-
fesSional rat eatChers are employed,
the breeding places broken up, gran
aries, cellars and other places where
the rats teed are cemented and other
wise made rat-proof This work
against buboniC plague and yellow few
er is so important that the Public
Health Department of the United
States usually takes active charge,
with all the authority of the United
States behind it and out of the reach
of local politicians. In Africa, they
have another inoculable disease, the
so-called sleeping sickness, caused by
: the bite of the tsetse fly, almost in
variably fatal.
By inhalation we have the most
prevalent and most deadly of all dis
eases, and also the hardest to cope
with. | refer to the so-called COM
mon colds "a misnomer, because cold
has nothing at all to do with them,
grippe, consumption and pneumonia.
! Ihese diseases cause more deaths
than all the rest combined, and if
public opinion were sufficiently ar
oused, could be practically eliminat-
ed, as have yellow fever and malaria.
The enforcement of the city ordinan>
ces against splitting would practically
do it, even though nothing else were
done. 1t is the inhalation of these
germs as they blow about after the
sputum of an infected person has dried
that causes the disease. The trouble
is we are all guilty, so hesitate to
complain of our neighbor. Also, peo-
pie with colds should stay home I'M
til well.
Through the alimentary canal typh-
old fever, cholera, dystentery, Berl
Beri, pelagra gain access. The pre-
probably the best index of the sani-
tary condition Of any community, for
in order to be free from typhoid fever
we must have pure water, pure milk,
good sewerage, clean yards, clean
stables and corrals. 1t any of the
above are not pure or clean, an cpl
demic of typhoid is pretty sure to fol-
low, sooner of later. Typhoid is abb
solutely a filth disease and entirely
preventable. There is absolutely no
excuse for an epidemic of typhoid
fever in a community. Caldwell is
very fortunate in that the first of the
requirements exists, the pure water,
coming from arteslan wells over lOU |
feet in depth, absolutely pure, as pro-
ven by repeated analyses. If no intec- |
ton enters along the pipe lines or al |
the reservoir, the first danger of in
tected water supply is eliminated.
The second, the milk supply, can
not get the same clean bill of health.
have been in some of these diaries,
and they are absolutely filthy, and
sanitation. OF course this does not
apply to all, as few will be found
the requirements. These dair-
NO ollOuIu DS llloPCNlCuJ SdllplGS SCIL
to the state laboratory for bacterial
count, and those places that do not
live UP to the requirements should be
closed until they do as was done in
the hotels and restaurants short time
ago.
But the greatest menance to our
city is the house fly. They travel from
the open cesspools to our tables and
back again, leaving colonies of germs
on our food that they have carried
from the vaults to the table on their
hairy. sticky feet The remedy for
This is, have no open vaults. If you
tnow of neighbor who has not con- {
lected up with the sewer, report him
md let's stop that source. 1t was only i:
| few years ago, before connecting i;
With the sewer was general, that case
u typhoid was imported to the town.
All the eXcreta were thrown in the ,
'rlvy vault, and when the hot weather
anne on, Caldwell had the worst typh-
I'D epidemic in its history. These
germs, under the heat of the sun and
he moisture of the place, multiplied
nto seething mass. The flies carried
hem to other vaults and from these
'aults to the tables, on the food, and
he epidemic resulted. The breeding {
,laces of the fly is horse manure. Sta I
,leS should be compelled to keep fly
light boxes for the refuse, and the cor |
ais should be banished to the city /
outskirts. Nothing should be allowed e
o be thrown out that would attract /
he fly. Cans that have provisions in Y
hem should be washed with hot wa n
er or, preferably, thrown into the i
ange. Neither should scraps from c
he table be thrown to the chickens. r
t you have lots of flies about your 6
lace. look for the cause. Either there t
S breeding place near by, or there is c
etuSe that attracts them. OF course.
wat the fly on any and all occasions, il
specially in the spring, as the death I
Il one female fly in the spring is equal u
o million in the fall. II
Cholera is also carried by infected G.
Iater, also by the fly; dystentery the y
anne. Beri Beri, especially prevalent Il
the relocating countries, is caused i
rom faulty nutrition, caused by eating =
olished rice. The cheaper grade OF i,
npolished rice does not cause it. '