Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1920-07-02


giene at the County Training school
will cover the following plans during
the first week.
Causes and Prevention
Health and sickness at all times
are mOment0uS factors in the welfare
Of our nation; now as never before are
matters of vital Importance"
The invention of the microscope has
made it POSSIBLE for us to see the plant
!Mil animal micrO-OrganiSmS which
clay such an important part i'll our life
4c"e are the useful ones which carry
j.. the decomposition OF dead animal
nj vegetable matter, reconverting it
MO the original clements which act
Is food for the growing live plants and
animals. Then there are those which
are harmful and produce disease and
among those well known are colds
blood poison, influenza, pneumonia
diphtheria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis
WhOOping cough, meningitis, lock jaw
gonnorhea, syphilis, etc. Of these and
some others, we know of conditions best
productive to their growth and the
mode of transmission from one per
son to another, SO the prevention is
gagged, widely, by the knowledge and
action of the people, the community
individuality and as a whole. The
bacteria are very widely distributed
being found in plants and water and
food; our fabrics and furniture, walls
and floors, and III great numbers on the
skin, hair, many mucous surfaces and
other tissues of the body.
Most disease-prOGucing bacteria do
not live long outside the body and owe
their existence mostly to direct trans
fer from person to person. Their modes
of access are through mucous surfaces
OF the digestive and respiratory tracts
and through breaks i'll the skin, such
as cuts, bruises, and bites of certain i'll
sectS. They leave the body chiefly in
the nasal and mouth discharges, such
rs coughing, sneezing, and splitting.
and in the urine and bowel discharges
and i'll puS, or matter.
The five principal routes of travel
from one person to another are : Water
milk, food, insects and body discharg-
cS. such as urine or bowel SecretiOnS
1t cannot be too strongly emphasized
that the chief agent in the spread of
human disease is man himself, and the
human hand, the principal carrier, to
and from the body.
The main body defenses are unbrOken
skin, the SecretiOns Of the mucous mem
braneS and the acid secreti0nS Of a
normal stomach and large intestines.
Then we have certain immunity
both natural and acquired Man is
naturally immune to many diseases
common to the lower animals, and the
acquired may be gained several ways
DIS smallpox, measles, WhOOping cough
scarlet fever, infantilc paralysis. ty
phoid, chicken-poX. and mumps. while
Crysipelas and pneumonia seem to have
the immunity artificially acquired as
III diphtheria, smallpox and typhoid
and which has saved thousands of lives
Smallpox. once more prevalent than
measles, was the Scourge of Europe un
til vaccination was introduced, and tho
deaths from diphtheria and typhoid
have been greatly lessened since the use
of anti-toxine and anti-typhoid vac
cine
The principal causes which diminish
resistance to infection are: Wet an(
cold. fatigue. insufficient or unsuitable
food. vitiated atmosphere insufficient
sleep and rest. worry. and excuses OF
all kinds In other words, general de
bility" lowers resistance.
Diseases which arc transmitted by
milk, water, food and insects, such as
flies and mosquitoes. may be controlled
by public action i'll public sanitation
while the larger group transmitted
chiefly by sputum and hands must b(
controlled by personal hygiene.
Public sanitation has performed
miracles in the past and will do muc1
in the future; behavior, however will