The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1917-11-03
ARREST THE GERMS OF
RESPIRATORY DISEASES
TO PREVENT EPIDEMICS
State Board of Health Warns Public
gainst Careless Practices Which
Cause Spread of Common Colds, lie
Grippe, Measles and Like MaEadies.

So minute as to be impossible to OBJ
serve with the naked eye is the com
mon. cold germ, which at this particu-
lar season of the year Is ssulting in
such prevalence of4his malady, and
SO capable is it of causing annoying
and dangerous results, that the
Estate board of health is warning peo-
/ pie of Florida against the careless
habit of putting their unwashed hands
about their noses and mouths. Very
few persons are able to trace their
had colds to any particular source of
origin, but the chances are ten to one
| that they were transferred from an.
other person with whom, either con-
Iscfausly or unconsciously, the latest
victim came into contact
Not only the common cold. but other
respiratory diseases are communicated
in this manner and can be reduced ma
terially or prevented by observation of
simple and proper precautions.
Between army life and civilian life
there IS considerable difference in the
ease with which preyentable diseases
cen be controlled. 1t is altogether
likely that, under conditions where ev-
erybody can be examined, such as pre-
walls at army posts, diseases like
measles, humps, scarlet fever, whoop-
ing cough, la grippe and possible COM
mon colds could, in measure, be pre-
Vented. However, in order to prevent
s.sla il il szcesgary to isolate ALI Of
Iicable period, which ina large major
|ity of the diseases, appears to be dur
ing the few days before they burst out
with all their severity. DR.. w A.
Evans of Chicago, president of the
American Public Health association,
takes the position that in army life
measles, as well as other respiratory
diseases, can be prevented. He goes
| so far as to suggest that the army
medical officer who permits epidemics
lin camp should be courtmartialed.
This, however, is too much to be
hoped for in civil life; but we ap-
proach it more closely as we gradually
cease to swap saliva. In coughing and
lsneezing we unwittingly throw tiny
ldroplets of this saliva into the air to
be breathed in by our associates and
those with whom we come into con-
tact. These easily convey Infection
and indications are to reduce this
practice to the minimum. Covering
the mouth with a handkerchief when
coughing or sneezing will prevent this
spraying of the air with mist OF IN;
fected saliva.
| AS long as people have a habit OF
shaking hands and putting their
hands about their mouths and noses
there will be a certain transfer OF in
Election. Common cold germs, for in
tstance, get on your hands and you
transfer them. You may open door
and leave the germs on the knob for
the next person to remove with MS
/, hands. He may thoughtlessly put his
hands to his mouth or nose and there
i from contract the infection. Some
one has suggested that if saliva turn
ed everything it touched blue, we
would be living in world of blue;
our faces and hands would assume this
color and the various objects we use
would take on shades of varied depths.
This is the season of colds; and pre-
cautions by those persons who have
already contracted cases and those
who come into contact with them Will
result in materially reducing spread
of the disease. The civilian popula-
ton must learn to keep their own
germs of this and other respiratory
diseases and epidemics will be impos-
J sible.