Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-08-17
DON'T MISS THIS
HEALTH DOPE
ON DOG DAYS

Dogdays are here, the hottest sea-
son of the year. Nobody seems to
know just when or why the term
originated but common consent allows
the popular belief that it's the time
when dogs go mad" or scientifically
speaking, become infected with rabies.
The idea is purely superstition, de-
clares DR.. |. ID. Rawlings, state direc-
tor of public health, who AYERS that
rabies or hydrophobia is just as con-
tagious in the winter as in the sum-
mer, and that the disease is no respec-
ter of animal, attacking both man and
beast without fear or favor.
The only effect summer has on
spreading rabies is that folks gener-
ally, especially children, live out-of-
doors a great deal and this gives
rabid dogs more opportunity to at
tack them. A dog spreads the dis
ease more commonly than any other
animal because of his roaming habits
and he frequently carries it to man
because he is generally on more init
mate terms with human beings than
is the case with other animals.
Rabies is one of the most deadly
of all diseases, the director declared.
There is no cure known to physicians,
but only means Of prevention. If
a person who has been exposed TO
infection waits until the symptoms of
rabies manifest themselves, he might
just as we'll drift over Niagara Falls
in birch bark canoe. Death is no
more certain in the latter instance
than in the former.
If a person is bitten by a dog
there are few important things to
do that will prevent rabies. These
are as follows:
l. Call a physician to treat the
wound which should be permitted to
bleed freely.
2. Fasten the dog securely but do
not kill him. Watch him carefully for
ten days. II he demonstrates rabid
or unusual symptoms have him ex-
amined by a veterinarian.
3. If dog develops rabies start
preventive treatment at once ON the
person bitten. Your family physician
knows what to do.
The idea that all mad dogs foam
at the mouth and are afraid Of water
is fallacious. Any dog bite should
be regarded as serious and treated as
such. If the dog has been killed his
head should be packed in ice and sent
to the State Diagnostic Laboratory at
Springfield. There is always plenty
of time to start the Pasteur treat
ment to prevent rabies in humans
after the ten-day period of watching
the dog has elapsed. The treatment
is expensive and unnecessary If there
is no real danger from rabies
therefore the advice to watch the dog
and have his head examined in case
of doubt.
The warning about rabies is issued
by the state director of health at
this time because a rather large num-
Der of animals in southern Illinois
has recently been exposed. Rabid
dogs have been at large and have at
tackled other domestic animals. Dogs
throughout infected regions ought to
be either immunized or muzzled," said
DIR. Rawlings. Both measures are
effective in controlling the disease.
The state department of public
health provides for the free treat
ment of all persons exposed to rabies
infection who are financially unable
to secure the proper treatment. 1t
also has arrangements whereby pre-
yentive material will be sold at
wholesale prices to people unable to
pay the retail OF market price of the
treatment.