The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1943-02-24

MS
vania. In particular we are
shocked at the reports, whether
true or not, that the authorities
were trying to control it by quar-
antine.
Long, long ago DR.. George
Dock, then Professor Of Medicine
at the University Of Michigan,
published a long article which
was called Smallpox Quarantine
in Practice and Its Failure" His
whole thesis was that it is i'm
possible to control a smallpox cpl
demic by quarantine alone.
His experience was obtained
especially in an epidemic Of small
pox which broke out in an institu-
ton for the feeble-minded at La
peer, Michigan, in 1910. Although
the institution was quarantined,
attendants and workmen from
the institution appeared on the
streets Of the adjacent city. State
troops, a company OF infantry
(three officers and 40 mem ap-
peared. They threw out line OF
sentries a mile and a quarter in
length around the home.
These troops stood guard for
seven nights and seven days. None
Of them had more than four
hours sleep at any one time.
Range lights were placed around
the patrol line so that no refugee
could get out of the grounds with
out exposing himself" In spite Of
these precautions a great many
stragglers did get out and small
pox spread in the city and neigh
boring communities.
Quarantine Intellectual
1t is perfectly impossible to In
stitute quarantine under modern
conditions. In the first place,
nurses and doctors go into a ward
and when they come out they are
carriers. The milk man arrives,
the ice man arrives, the grocer
arrives and then they all depart.
Smallpox is notably a disease that
is carried by fomites: in other
words, it attaches itself to an in
animate object such as a glass, a
book or cloth and is spread in this
way.
There is perfectly definite
way to prevent the spread Of
smallpox, which is universal vac
eination. In any community where
there is universal vaccination
there is absolutely no danger Of
the spread of smallpox.
During my Army experience in
1917 we had a number of draftees
brought into the camp who had a
fever. They were put TO bed in a
general ward. In the course Of. "a
few hours or days the skin erup-
tons appeared so that there was
no doubt in anybody's mind that
they were dealing with smallpox.
(In the prodromal period there is
fever and no eruption so that mis-
takes are likely to happen, but this
is the most contagious period of
the disease.) But there was never
the slightest worry about these
episodes because everybody in the
Army was vaccinated. We did not
have even the vestige Of an cpl
demic from any one Of them
Many Unvaccinated
In spite Of all the warnings and
admonitions from public health
authorities to have children vac
cinated, in spite of the fact that
vaccination is supposed to be COM
pulsory in public school, we find
every once.in a while that we have
in the United States very large
unvaccinated population.
In Kansas City, where I live,
we were visited about 1921 with
a very virulent epidemic Of black,
or hemorrhagic smallpox. There
were so many deaths that people
became frightened and the wait
ing room Of my Office and that of
every other physician | knew was
crowded with people, not only
children but people up to the age
of 40, who had never been vacci-
mated. ! have no doubt that if such
a situation arose today, we would
find just as large a number Of
people who had never been vac
cinated.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Reader: | was told that if a
person took soda after each meal
1T would kill all the fat in the
foods. Is this true ?"