Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-01-02
Health of City
Well Guarded
During 1921

During the past year Grand, Forks
mas been particularly fortunate as
far as the general health of its citi-
zens is concerned. At the present
time there are only two cases of con-
tagious diseases in the cily. These
are Eases OF dtphtheria. At this
inn last year there were 40 cases
OF this disease in the city, and
rs cases of smallpox. This record
may be considered typical of the
health condition for the entire year.
This city. during 1921. has never been
threatened with an epidemic Of any
kind. according to DR.. Z. c.. Hagen
SON. public health officer of this city.
s The reasons for this Improvement
may be many. but the fact that an ac-
tive campaign has been waged during
sthc past year by Health Commissioner
DR.. A. A. Westeen and DR.. Hagen
son for pure milk. is undoubtedly one
t&ofT the prime causes. 1t is generally
agreed that the health Of a commuai-
.2ty may be fairly accurately Judged by
[the quality of the milk it
Thi is due to h fact that milk is a
most excellent carrier Of disease if It
is unclean. being an ideal breeding
place for all manner Of bacteria when
conditions are favorable.
Fol this reason the work Of the
health department Of Grand Forks
Is concerned primarily with the pro-
duction of clean milk. During the
year all dairies. that furnish milk to
residents Of Grand Forks have been
rigidly inspected. n in some cases
the licenses of dairymen have been
Withdrawn. due to .unsanitary condi-
tons in the handling of their milk.
Milk Best in St.
DR.. Haagenson is Of the opinion
| fHnffho Sof1-. o0f,c,, :, Al 49,. ~.--L
Forks people is better than any pro-
duced, in the state. But" he added,
there is considerable room for i'm
provement, and during the coming
year we hope to continue the friendly
rivalry between dairymen to produce
an even better product. What we
have aimed to do was to impress up
on milk producers the necessity OF
thorough sterilization of all milk
utensils, cleanliness Of the cows, and
immediate cooling of the milk. These
elementary rules have for the mos,
part been complied with and hence
this year there have been fewer cases
of scarletina and septic sore throat,
the two diseases caused chiefly by un-
<ean milk, than in n year previ-
, GUS"
|. Another marked enforcement IA
facilities for handling diseases during
the past year is the remodeling and,
rebuilding of the city hospital, where
|cases OF contagious diseases. are segre-
gated when q~uarantining is not pos
sible. This place now has all the
modern facilities for treating these
diseases. and the work of Mrs. ]. Tay-
lor. who is in charge Of the place. has
been pronounced excellent.
To Introduce Schick Test.
During the coming ear it is pro-
posed to introduce the Schick test for
diphtheria in the public schools. The
purpose of this test is to get, complete
control of this disease through eradi-
cation by vaccination. in the same
way that smallpox is controlled. This
test consists of giving the child "a
small injection of vaccine to find out
whether the child is susceptible to
Idiphtheria or not. Those who do no
react are naturally immune. and
hence the efforts for preventing this
disease will be concentrated onlthe
r%eactors. These can be protected for
life. with three injections q week
apart. Permission TO do this work
will of course be gotten from the par