The Adair County news., 1916-01-26


but when smallpox is epidemic all
over the country and all have reason
and warning to be on the lookout for
cases, or even for suspicious symptoms,
there is no longer any excuse for ply
sicians who fail to recognize the dis
ease and to cordially cooperate with
the authorities in preventing the
spread, excluding chickenpox, which
is essentially disease of childhood.
1t does not look like anything else and
the symptoms point to nothing else.
The pain in the back, the hard, shot.
like papules,, appearing first in the
edge of the hair, on the forehead, and
then on the wrists, and all the time
more abundant on the face and over
exposed portions of the body. The
disappearance of fever and feeling of
relief when the eruption appears, and
the regularity of the successive stages
of the eruption taken altogether make
picture never to be forgotten by a
careful observer. The fact should be
emphasized over and over again, too,
that adults almost never have chick
enpox. When unvaccinated, grown
people have contagious eruptive dis
ease under existing conditions they
should be insulated and at least re-
ported as suspicious until some COM
petent authority decides that it is not
smallpox. 1t should be constantly
borne in mind, also, that there is no
such disease as Elephant itch, African
itch, Army itch, Cedar itch, or Cuban
itch, but these are Niger" names
for smallpox. In all the hundreds of
instances where the disease was re-
ported under these and other mislead-
ing designations, our expert inspectors
have found only genuine and unmis
taxable smallpox
The law plainly requires physicians
and heads of families to report all
cases of smallpox or other communica
bic diseases to their respective County
Municipal Boards of Health within
the first "a hours and that they sha
obey the rules and regulations of such
boards relating thereto, and amps
penalties are provided for failure to
do so. The law also gives such boards
full authority to provide hospital:
physicians, nurses, guards, and a.
other things needful in managing an ;
stamping out the disease at the ex
pense of the County or MuncipaIit!
where the persons afflicted are in
digent, and the authority has beer
sustained and even extended in FIRE
quent decisions of the Court of Ap
peals Fortunately more and more Of
the Fiscal officials and intelligent peo-
pie are recognizing the necessity CT
enforcing the law at the onset as "a
means of minimizing the expense and
trouble of management. Most of our
county and municipal boards have dis
tinctly less trouble in securing mora
and financial support than in formel
years. If this could be further devel
oped so that the precautions herein
suggested could be effectively enforc-
ed throughout Kentucky for the next
six weeks we would have no more
smallpox. If successive generations
were Systematically vaccinated we
would never have any more smallpox
Had those three cases at the Jail been
vaccinated at the proper time we
would not have had any use for the
quarantine that now exists to protect
the lives and health of Adair county
citizens. John Henry Rice, the first
one to take smallpox at the jail, is ap-
parently about we'll. Eddie WACO
ner seems to be improving nicely
and "Dog" Wagner, who broke out
last week, seems to be convalescing.
All are doing we'll, and if no new sases
break out l am of the opinion that
those cases will soon recover.
S. P. Miller,
Health Officer of Adair County.