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Infection and Disinfection

CONTACT INFECTION - DISINFECTION - STANDARD SOLUTIONS - FUMIGATION OR GASEOUS DISINFECTION-FORMALDEHYDE AND SULPHUR FUMIGATION-ADDITIONAL DISINFECTION CONTACT INFECTION Before the germ theory of disease became fully established, a distinction was made between what were called "infectious" as opposed to "contagious" diseases. These words are now used interchangeably. It was formerly supposed that "infectious" diseases could be "caught" by merely breathing the air in the vicinity of the patient. A superstition to this effect still lingers in some localities.

Many persons, otherwise well informed, attempt to hold their breath while passing pest houses or dwellings where patients with virulent communicable diseases are quarantined. This notion that the germs of disease are usually communicated through the air has been completely exploded. On the other hand it was formerly supposed that "contagious" in the sense opposed to "infectious" diseases, could be communicated only by actual contact of the diseased part with the body of another person.

Some diseases were thought to be both contagious and infectious. Many cases of the transmission of disease were observed, however, which could not be explained upon either of these theories. Hence there was formerly a good deal of doubt, even among medical men, as to the exact way in which certain diseases were communicated.