Omaha daily bee., 1916-03-30
Fighting
the Spring
E EpGdemGc
ny WOODS HUTCHINSON, NJ. d.

vantage about our modern view Of the
causation OF our March epidemios. Il
gives us control over them in large
measure. when we believed they wor,
due to the weather, we were pretty
nearly helpless. for while we have consid-
erable power over some things, we GER
tainly cannot control the weather any
more than another most powerful-and
Observation-Disclosures that begins with
Wv"
We can do much, and are already
doing much, toward reducing theis heavy
spring disease rate; partly by urging
the open-air life all through the winter
TO cut down and counteract the piling
up Of toxins and hot-housng effects;
partly by taking special pains at this
time of year TO prevent the spread of
the contagious diseases that are now so
deadly. partly by giving ourselves and
our children every possible advantage
OF rest, vacation and relief from strain
that we can at this season.
it Is therefore peculiarly appropriate
step which has just been taken by the
New York State Health department.
and that is the placarding OF public
places all over the state with cards giv-
ing warning against and clear directions
for avoiding the spread of conta gious
diseases. particularly those OF children,
Five of the great railroads in New
York state have agreed to post these
pacards and keep them displayed in
their waiting rooms. which is a very
judicious step, because travellers often
have considerable time on their minds
and are willing to kill IT by reading
almost anything legible that catches the
eye.
This is part of a general. we'll planned
and already succeeding campaign against
the spread OF infectious diseases, and
particularly those that are regarded as
the mllder and more trivial ones, though
Equally deadly In the long run
The keynote OF the movement now is
Parents. keep your children away from
contagious diseases and from every child
ftwho either looks or acts sick, because
this is the time OF year at which their
resistance against them is lowest
It is not that the germs. or contagious.
OF these diseases are more virulent or
more aggressive at this time of the year.
but that the human soil has been so
peculiarly and favorably prepared for
their growth that they grow like weeds
The old idea Of them also. used to be
that they were caused by the weather.
spread like a miasma or deadly vapor
over the landscape, we're bred by heat
and moisture, or came down from the
heavens above. as a judgment; or by the
influence OF some planet. as the phrase
Under the weather." and the name II
one of the swiftest spreading of them,
Influenza" imply.
Now we know that the seed of each
one OF these infections is kept alive and
carried over between epidemics by human
beings, or occasionally animals, known
as Carriers" ....s~
These are individuals who have had
the disease and have recovered from IT,
but instead OF expelling the germs from
their system. still carry colonies of them
lurking about in variou hooks and cor
ners of their bodies.
Most frequently about the roots OF
their teeth, or the slnuses OF the nose in
catarrh, OF in the pockets about their
tonsils. or in their gall bladders or sp-
pendices or in swollen glands or alb
scesses in various parts OF the body.
These colonies of resting or winter
ing'' germs are no manner OF use TO the
host who enterta,ns them; In fact. there
Is reason to believe that they SLOWLY
poison the blood and often produce gout
rheumatism and anemia as we'll as 90
OCCASIONALLY serious diseases Of the heart
Kidney and nerous system. but they Dc
not produce another attack OF the dis
ease.
A carrier OF this sort with a shoulder
ing germ-fuse in him, may so Abou'
harmlessly for months. or even years
until something that he sneeEes out, oi
coughs or spits. gets on the fingers or OF
the food, into the mouth or into thu
nose OF some child who has never haC
the disease and whose resisting power 4
lowered by ill-health, indoor confine
ment, injudicious feeding or overstrain.
Then II bursts out into the blaze OF 1
full-grown attack of the disease anC
spreads like prairie fire to every othe
child OF susceptible age brought in con
tact with the little sufferer. particular!
II they, too, have been subject to tn
same depressing winter influences.
The moral Of which IL: Keep your child
particularly at this time of the year
away from every other child that look
sick or unhealthy, and also from ever,
boy, girl or grown-up who has red eye
or a blocked and snuffling nose. or 4
HdNhlnE anu SpllNluE With NnIOilO "a
tarrh. or has an offensive breath from
decayed teeth. or even suffers much fron
rheumatism. or gout or anemia.
II you do. you will greatly diminis
his risks OF catching not merely cold
and sore throats, but also tuberculosis
ysFSneumonia. bronchitis, scarlet fever
1iphtheria and measles.
Clean up the so-called chronic disease
which scatter germs and a considerabl
proportion OF the acute, infectious one
will disappear.
On the other hand. II your child is un
fortunate enough to develop one Of thes
milder infections OF children's diseases
keep him at home. at rest and comfort
able in the open air either through wild
windows or out OF doors, and you wi
not only give him his best chance ian
thirty-to-one chance at thaD OF throw
ing off the disease quickly and con-
pletely, but also prevent its spreading I
his playmates and school-fellows an
friends.