News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1917-03-07
BAD HOUSING;
AND DISEASE
Many Ways In which DWELL
ings May Affect HEALTH
MEASURES OF PREVENTION

Professor James Ford Shows Various
Ways In Which the House May Dele
teriousIy Affect Health and How
Housing Legislation Is Effective In
Prevention of Disease.
In paper on Housing Conditions as
Factors In the Production of Disease
Professor James Ford of the depart
ment of social ethics of Harvard uni
yersity shows the many ways in which
the house may affect health.
Injuries caused by housing conditions
include almost all forms of superficial
wounds, due to effectively built or out
Increasingly prevented through build
ing laws, housing laws and fire preven-
zion laws. Specific legislation can pre-
vent diseases caused by chemical poi
soning from defective fues and gas
fixtures. Malaria, which is transmitted
from man to man through the medium
Of the mosquito, may be reduced if
rooms are well screened. The hook
worm disease may be largely prevented
by the universal requirement of mod
ern toilets.
Since it is possible by housing legis-
lation to control somewhat the factor
of ventilation, it is possible at least to
hasten the deSiccatiOn Of the bacteria
of diseases of the respiratory tract.
The control of dust and dirt, the pre-
yentiOn of room Overcrowding and
provision for the natural Lighting Of
halls and apartments should aid in the
prevention Of these bacterial diseases.
The requirement in health and housing
laws that garbage pals ana manure
piles shall be covered and that all or
ganic wastes shan be removed from
premises will materially reduce the
numbers of insect carriers Of diseases
transmitted through contaminated food
and drink.
1t is probable that the conditions of
the home materially affect the nervous
tone Of the occupant. Overcrowding
and the lOdger evil certainly affect the
moral tone All provisions tending to
encourage the construction of cottage
homes would tend to reduce these evils
as well as the dangers from bacterial
diseases. Professor Ford says:
Housing legislation is most effective
in the prevention of disease. in all
probability not because it provides
means of reducing contact or destroy
ing germs, but because Of the part
which it may play in the building up
of resistance. Human beings vary ap-
parently quite considerably in their
relative constitutional immunity to
specific diseases, but a given individ-
uars susceptibility to many diseases,
as, for example, tuberculosis, may be
considerably affected by his mode of
living. Resistance may lie reduced by
overwork, undernouriShment, abuse of
alcohol or certain other poisons, ap-
parently also by inadequate exercise.
Resistance may apparently be increas.
ed by living in fresh air. 1t is prob !
able also that sunshine plays a quite :
important part in increasing human re-
sistance. The quality of the blood and
the number of phagOcytes, or white
blood corpuScles, which are among the
most important of the body's defensive /
agents against disease may be increas- |!
ed rapidly by exposure of the body to !
the sunshine. In so far as housing leg !
tslation tends, therefore, to increase
the amount Of fresh air and of sun ;
shine in the homes of all classes, 1t
presumably tends to increase resist !
ance to disease. This, if true. offers !
the most cOgent argument of all for
housing legislation.
at should be understood that housing !
conditions are seldom the sole cause of /
disease. There must be a constitutional !
predispositiOn, hereditary or acquired |
In the case of infectious diseases the /
germ must be present and ingested I'm |
Infective quantities. Doctors disagree |
also as to the mode of infection or ac- |!
quirement of many diseases. Neverthe- /
less the burden of proof lies with the .
person who criticises the general view |
Of the pathologists and quarrels with /
the experience of health departments /
and Investigators. Bad housing condi- /
lions Of various sorts may be real fac !
tors in the reduction of health and I'm /
the production Of a variety of diseases. :
improvement of housing conditions will !
serve TO reduce the volume of prevent /
able diseases and accidents and may
help to render the lives Of persons of z
small income not only tolerable, but eff .
icient and joyous. American City.