Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1920-08-26
How Infectious Diseases Are Spread.

How Infectious Diseases Are Spread.
Infectious diseases are usually
transmitted CD directly from one per-
son to another through the medium
OF discharges from the body which
contains infectious germs or organisms
in their active stat; ~ indirectly
through the medium OF contaminated
food and drink, and 81 by certain
biting insects, mosquitoes, for ex-
ample, which in the manner OF their
kind, transmit infectious agents from
one persons TO another.
II all cases OF infectious diseases
were we'll marked and could be prompt
ly and easily identified, the danger OF
their spread would be greatly diminish
ed, for we could then better guard
against infectve discharges; but I'M
fortunately, these diseases very often
appear in a mild, irregular and I'M
recognized form, and are overlooked
or mistaken for some simple malady
and usually treated with home rem
edies.
Another very common and dangerous
source Of infection, and one which is
now becoming more fully recognized, is
what are known as Carriers" that is,
persons who retain actively infectious
organisms within their body and who
themselves are apparently we'll, yet
through the medium of infectious dis
charges may transmit disease to others.
This very frequently occurs in connec-
ton with typhoid fever.
Certain insects transmit infection.
We have ndSputable evidence that
malaria and yellow fever are convey
ed from one person to another by the
bite of certain infected mosquitoes.
and, as far as we know at the present
time, there are no other means by
which these diseases are communi-
Gated.
The fly is also regarded as a medium
of infection.
The flea that infests the rat trans
nit the infection of bubonic plague,
and it has recently been shown that
the body louise carries the germ OF
typhus fever from one person 70 an
other.
Filth does not cause infectious dis
ease, but disease thrives best where
there is filth, overcrowding the bad air.
To illustrate: During the outbreak of
typhus fever, which occurred in New
York in the winter Of 1884, over sew
en- hundred cases were discovered, and
all but two or three of them were
found among the tenement and lodg-
ing house population where unclean-
illness, lice and overcrowding were rife.
| The prompt detection of an infectious
disease is vitality important, for this
not only offers better chance for re-
covery for those who are ill, but goes
far to prevent the spread of infec- !
ton.
Unfortunately, tuberculosis, which |
exists almost everywhere, frequently |
reaches an advanced stage before its
character is known, and little can be
done for the patient; meanwhile In
fective matter has been slowly dis
ributed
Smallpox often appears in mild
form, and not frequently is mistaken
for condition which is not infectious.
Through such errors, serious out
breaks may follow.
Diptheria, measles and scar.et fever,
which are more or less constantly
present, are frequently unrecognized. |
A number Of cases which occur at the
beginning of the school year are due
largely to the transmission of discharge
from mild, undetected cases, and not
from infected clothing, as was former
ly supposed.