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Prevention of Communicable Disease: Breathing

OTHERS MAY GET THE DISEASE BY BREATHING OR SWALLOWING THE GERMS.

SPRAY GIVEN OFF IN SNEEZING OR COUGHING, CONTARS GERNS IN A MOLST AND ACTIVED STATE How the germs of consumption are carried from the sick to the well. PUTTING FOOD, MONEY, PENCILS ETC, INTO THE MOUTH AFTER A CONSUMPTIVE HAS POISONED THEM WITH HIS SPIT INTEMPERANCE AND OTHER EXCESSES. THE CLOSED WINDOW OVERWORK CROWDED SLEEPING LIVING AND WORKING ROOMS SMOKE AND DUST.

MOUTH BREATHING OFTEN DUE TO ADENOIDS.

Consumption's allies-avoid them and you are safeguarding against the disease. water. If the germ finds its way into the lungs it rapidly increases in number. A strong, healthy person will resist the germs, but in an individual who is weak, they rapidly multiply until the lungs are consumed and the person dies. The germ generally obtains access to the body through the mouth, and most frequently lodges in the air passages of the lungs. It may, however, get into the glands of the neck, attack the throat, the bowels, the kidneys, the brain, or any other organ of the body as well as the bones of the joints. Fortunately, strong, healthy people possess the power of resisting these germs, otherwise it is likely that the disease would kill off ual who has consumption is filled with the germs of tuberculosis.

In early stages of the disease the germ is found in small numbers in the sputum, in larger numbers as the disease progresses, and in countless millions in the later stages. Unless this sputum is destroyed by burning or by disinfectants, it may become the most common method of carrying tuberculosis to other individuals.

Not Hereditary. It is generally believed now that consumption is not inherited. It is true that the children of consumptives are frequently of low vitality and generally of poor physique. This does not mean, however, that they are bound to become consumptives. They will get consumption only if the germ enters their body. Being weak, however, and being unable to resist the action of the bacillus, they are more susceptible than individuals who are physically well and strong. There is no reason whatever why such children, if properly cared for, should not grow to healthy and well-developed men and women who will never be consumptive.

It is possible to have the disease for some time and not know it or will be seen that as consumption is a germ disease, it is a communicable disease and as such a preventable disease. If it is treated properly in its early stages it is a curable disease.

The Extent of the Disease. - Tuberculosis is the great disease of middle life. It causes about onethird of all the deaths that occur between the ages of twenty and fifty years. More deaths result from consumption than from any other dis- It is estimated that two hunease.

CONTENTS 2 TABLESPOONS OF CARBOLIC ACID TO EACH QUART OR WATER COUGHS, SPITS AND SNEEZES INTO PAPER OR CLOTH- BURNS OR BOILS IT BEFORE IT DRIES. - OR PUTS IT INTO A DISINFECTANT.- WASHES HER HANDS BEFORE AND AFTER EATING- ALWAYS USES THE SAME DISHES AND BOILS THEM IN WATER BEFORE WASHING WITH OTHER DISHES,- A careful consumptive-not dangerous to live with. १ AND SLEEPS ALONE MILK THE DOCTOR. SUNLIGHT. OUT-DOOR AIR. GOOD FOOD.

In case of consumption look to these for cure. suspect it. An examination of the patient's chest by a competent physician and a microscopical examination of the sputum may discover it, but if both of these tests fail, it does not definitely mean that tuberculosis is not present.

Repeated examinations should be made from time to time if the earlier symptoms of tuberculosis are present.

Among these (if they are present, the individual should consult a physician at once) are the following: Slight cough, lasting a month or longer; loss of weight; slight fever, each afternoon; bleeding from the lungs; tired feeling. We repeat, if these symptoms are present, do not delay, but consult a physician at once.

From what has been said above, it REST. dred thousand people die each year in the United States from tuberculosis. Between the ages of fifteen and forty-five years, one-third of all deaths are from tuberculosis. Between the ages of twenty and thirtyfive, one-half of all deaths are from tuberculosis. During the four years of the Civil War, the total loss of life was two hundred and five thousand and seventy. In the same time, the tubercle bacillus destroyed in the United States alone over seven hundred thousand people. When we hear of yellow fever, we make every possible effort to stamp out the disease at once. The same is true of smallpox and other socalled contagious diseases, and yet it is estimated that the total number of deaths from yellow fever in the PREVENTION OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASE 163 United States during one hundred years was only one hundred thousand. The annual economic loss from consumption in the United States is $330,000,000.

The Spread of the Disease. The great medium for the spread of the disease is the consumptive's spit.

When the consumptive coughs or sneezes, he fills the air before him with particles of moisture, almost too small to be seen, which are filled with germs. When he spits upon the floor, or the walk, millions of germs are deposited, and are ready to find their way upon the clothes or hands and 4 ** Bacteria of consumption. thus into the mouths and into the lungs, stomach and intestines of children who play upon the floor, or walk. The careless consumptive's handkerchief, the pocket in which he carries it, the bedding, especially the pillow cover, and the towel used by him, are laden with germs.

When a member of the family has consumption and the spit is not carefully collected and destroyed, the house is apt to become infected and other members of the family take the disease.

When a consumptive removes or dies, and other persons move into the house, some of them are very apt to take the disease unless the house is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, particularly the floors and walls.