Evening star., 1936-02-04
Building Up
Immunity
To Disease
Childhood Ills May
Be Avoided to Ap-
preciable Degree.
BY ANGELO PATRI.


CHILDREN catch measles, scarlet
fever, whooping cough, sooner
than grown people would because they
have not the seasoned resistance of the
adult, and not because these diseases
are inevitable in childhood. 1t is not
necessary that a child have these
dreadful illnesses one after the other,
and in combination, as some people
still seem to think.
Aren't you sending the baby away
now that Jackie has the whooping
cough?"
mo, what's the use? He has to
have it sometime. May as well have
it now and over with"
He need not have it at all II he Is
not exposed to it. He can't help having
it if he lives in the house with child
who is coughing the germs all over
the place. Whooping cough is a cruel
sort of suffering for child. At the
first sign of a bronchial cough accom-
panied by shifts, the child should be
isolated and the doctor sent for. The
other children should be kept away
from the ailing one.
The diseases Of childhood are hard
on the sufferers. Illness is not pro-
portioned to the age and size of the
patient. A little child feels pain quite
as keenly as an adult does, and high
temperature is as hard for a child to
endure as it is for grown-up. The
effect of such illnesses on children has
been known to last long time. Some
times they inflict lifelong suffering. In
no case are they to be regarded as in
evitable or harmless.
The best way to avoid the troubles
they bring Is to keep the child in
sound health. That means to guard
his diet, his health habits, his daily
round Of activity. He is not to play
until he drops from exhaustion, nor
work to the point of oyerfatigue.
Fatigue is one of the worst evils chill
dren have to combat. Too often they
do not know they are tired, fight rest
time, protest about bed time and keep
on going until they collapse. Then
they are easy victims for the diseases
that beset childhood. 1t is not that
such diseases belong to childhood.
They do not belong, cannot belong.
They beset children because their
growth is unseasoned and therefore
susceptible. Sound health and ordi-
nary watchfulness can reduce the
ravages to a marked degree.
For some diseases we have preven-
tives easily applied by the family phy-
sician and available to all children.
I dislike the thought Of vaccinations
and injections quite as much as any
one else, but I hate to think of a child
falling i'll of diphtheria and choking
to death. It Is wrong to neglect these
precautions. Diphtneria has become
rare whereas it was once as common
as measles, and far more deadly.
Some health rules should be drilled
into children along with their names
and telephone numbers. Keep your
feet dry. Change your shoes and stock
ings if they are wet, as soon as you
get into the house. It is not the wet
ness that hurts, it is the staying wet
and the chill that comes. Use only
your own paper handkerchief. Put il
in the refuse can when you are
through with it. Keep away from
children who are coughing or sneezing
Cover your nose and mouth when you
sneeze or cough and report for treat
ment. Eat at table, no place else
Sleep 10 hours. Play hard in the
open air for at least two hours daily
Drink plenty of water and remember
that a bowel movement Is the first
duty Of the day. Keep cheerful and
think happy thoughts. Right think
ing Is the best tonic o child can have.
(Copyright. 1860