The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1916-12-07

| Deen uSeQ Dy strangers, anu soihc
much as they like money, insist
on having new bills, and only un'
der the stress of. unavoidable cir
cumstances will they break the
rule and take what they can get.
DR.. Alvin H. Doty, formerly
health officer Of the Port of New
York, has quite recently discussed
the subject, showing the foolish
ness of the dear, deluded people in
their fear that infection turks ey-
erywhere in public conveyances,
in clothing, money, rags, and car
straps and that diseases are con-
veyed through and by such means
If infectious diseases were really
conveyed by such media, one OF
| the best carriers imaginable would
be old rags, and a test of this the
ory would be found in the
rag markets of Alexandria, Egypt,
where the rags are largely the cast
off clothing of the natives, much
Of which is gathered from the in
terror where infectious diseases
are always prevalent. Yet the
British sanitary officers have new
er discovered infection among the
men, women and children whose
sole occupation is to handle the
rather disgusting merchandise.
In the Bureau at Washington,
where old currency is received for
redemption, infectious disease has
never occurred among the clerks
who handle it,
There must be some good reason
for such immunity and probably
it is in the fact that the germs of
infectious diseases find their most
natural habitation in the warmth
of the human body and not in in
animate objects which do not
furnish conditions favoring their
existence and activity.
1t is the custom to fumigate the
room that has been occupied by a
tuberculous patient. 1t is a wise
precaution. vet its greatest actual
benefit is the moral satisfaction
that every possible precaution has
been taken against the spread Of
the disease. A careful exposure
of the bedding and other articles
used by the patient to the bright
sun and fresh air would be much
more effective than the formalde-
hyde or the bath of sulphur can
die.
The resaon is that the tubercu-
lar bacillus, as well as those Of
most infectious diseases, dies and
loses its capacity for aggressive
harm within a short time after it
has been expelled from the mouth,
throat or lungs of the patient. 1t
cannot be lodged in the bedding,
on the walls or furniture and re-
main for long an active menace.
1t cannot remain suspended in the
air and retain its power for activ-
ity, but expelled by the cough or
sneeze into the face, the mouth or
1ostrils of another person, it be-
comes dangerous, for it immedi-
ately finds Judgement in the new
host where every condition favors
continued activity. 1t is in such
manner that the diseases of the
throat and lungs are transmitted
tuberculosis, colds, influenza
and bronchitis. And it seems that
the infected individual is the real
menace to his fellows-man is
man S worst enemy when it comes
to the transmission of infectious
diseases.
Another class of infection, such
as malaria, and yellow fever, is
carried by the mosquito and these
insect pests become dangerous.
But they can be themselves infect
ed only by and from the human
host, and again the infected man
is the enemy to his fellow man.
The millennium is pictured in
imagination as a time when the
dangers that now threaten and
disturb the morals and happiness
of mortals will be reduced to an
inappreciable minimum. In health
matters it will be the time when
diseases, especially infectious dis
eases, will be banished, and there
fore cannot be spread, and the
fight for health will be a thing of
the past. 1t is no idle dream that
such diseases may be banished, for
already typhoid has been limited
and diminished so successfully
that the prospect that it may be-
come a rare disease within the
next few decades is most promis-
ing, and it is at least imaginable
that otha1, bupna11 ai1rna,,4e mo-, L -