Tenocealic, Wad, Bellefonte, Pa., May 4, 1923. Ee . WHAT EVERY ONE OUGHT TO KNOW ABOUT GERMS. ~ By William C. Miller, M. D. (Concluded from last week). WHAT IS QUARANTINE? Quarantine plays a tremendously im- portant part in checking the spread of communicable diseases. ] Among public health people a dis- tinction is made between quarantine and isolation. The term “quarantine is applied to the restrictions imposed on persons who have been exposed to disease and are liable to contract and later pass it on to others, and to car- riers, who harbor in their nose, throat or intestinal tract, germs which, though harmless to themselves, may produce disease in others. The term “isolation” applies to the restraints placed upon the actual vic- |) tim of the disease. Persons who have been exposed to communicable disease are quarantined until the period of incubation has passed, unless they are known to be immune or may be made so artificially. For instance, the incubation period, or the time between contact with smallpox and its appearance is from 12 to 14 days. A person in contact with a case of smallpox, would be sub- ject to the restraint of quarantine un- til that time had passed, unless he could show evidence of vaccination, or of having had the disease; but he might be released if he submitted to immediate vaccination, in which case his address would be taken and he wv.ould be kept under observation un- til there was evidence that the vacci- nation was successful. In practically every State, the fol- lowing diseases are subject to abso- lute quarantine: Bubonic plague, cholera, leprosy, smallpox, typhoid fe- ver and yellow fever. This means that not only the patient, but all persons in the house are required to remain up- on the premises until the quarantine period has passed and the house has been disinfected in accordance with State or local regulations. MODIFIED QUARANTINE. In most States modified quarantine is established in ‘cases of: Anthrax, infantile paralysis, cerebro-spinal meningitis, chicken pox, german mea- sles, glanders, diphtheria, malarial fe- ver, measles, mumps, relapsing fever, scarlet fever, typhoid fever and whooping cough. ; In some States, to these may be added venereal diseases. Modified quarantine entails the per- fect and complete isolation of the pa- tient, but under certain circumstanc- ces, wage-earners in the family are permitted to continue their work. To be explicit, in the case of scarlet fever or diphtheria attacking a child of school age, in a family of half a dozen, the following quarantine meth- od would obtain: If the father and other adult mem- bers of the family work outdoors and do not handle foodstuffs, they may centinue to work, provided they do not enter the sick room, or travel-in pub- lic conveyances, enter stores, theatres or any place where crowds gather, or mingle with children. If wage-earn- ers are employed where they come in contact with children or handle food- stuffs or fabrics, they must remain in the quarantined home. Children of school age may leave the quarantined home and remain with relatives or friends where there are no other children until the period of in- cubation has passed or, in case of diphtheria, until two negative cultures have been taken, when they may re- turn to school and mingle with other children. The patient must be isolated in a room stripped of curtains, hangings, ‘carpets and upholstered furniture, all of which harbor germs. Over the door of this room is suspended a sheet, dampened from time to time with a disinfecting solution, which is made by dissolving 30 grains of corrosive sublimate and one tablespoonful of common salt in a gallon of hot water. Because of its known corroding action on metals, it should be kept in a crock. On occasions when it is necessary for the mother or nurse to leave the sick-room, she removes the cap and gown which she wears when near the patient and hangs them just outside the door, to be put on immediately upon her return. She always washes her face and hands before leaving the room, and carries out faithfully the directions of doctor and health officials concerning disinfection, and avoiding contact with other members of the family. DISINFECTION. In referring to disinfection, public health people make a distinction be- tween concurrent disinfection, which is carried on from day to day during the course of a communicable disease, and terminal disinfection, which takes place at the end of the disease and is the requirement for release from quarantine. As in almost all acute communica- ble diseases, the danger of contagion is greatest at the beginning, when the mucous membranes are heavily charged with the virus of contagion. It follows that of the two, concurrent disinfection is perhaps the more val- uable. CONCURRENT DISINFECTION. From day to day all secretions from the nose and throat should be caught in rags and burned. Execretory dis- charges should be disinfected with chloride of lime or some other equal- ly effective agent and, if no sewer con- nections be had, they, together with all bath water and food refuse coming from the sick room, should be buried in a pit in the back yard. The pit or trench should be 5 or 6 feet long, 2 feet wide and 4 feet deep. The dirt should be thrown to one side; at the other side several bushels of lime should be dumped. When waste material is thrown in, it should be covered with lime, afterwards with earth. Loose boards should be laid over the top of the pit to prevent an- imals from getting in. A convenient and satisfactory disin- fecting solution is made from chlorin- ated lime in the proportion of 6 ounc- es to a gallon of water. In such a so- lution, clothing, bed clothes, towels, napkins, ete., used by the patient should be immersed for at least two hours before leaving the sick-room for laundry purposes. It is needless to add, no laundry may be sent from the house until quarantine has been lifted. All dishes and utensils used by the patient and the nurse should be prop- erly disinfected before leaving the room. This can be accomplished by immersing them in a solution of equal parts of chloride of lime and boric acid, in the proportion of one tea- spoonful of the mixture to one quart of water. This combination, recently announced by Dr. John Laird, chief of the Pennsylvania Department of Health laboratories, is also a valuable hand disinfectant and is commended for use in the sick room. When convalescence has been estab- lished and the quarantine period is about to close, it has been, until re- cently, the custom to disinfect the premises by the gaseous method. For- maldehyde gas, by far the most popu- ar, was required by law in many States. The procedure in gaseous dis- infection of a room is to throw every- thing, including bedding, clothing and hangings, in disarray, so that every surface possible presents itself to the gas. GASEOUS DISINFECTION. All cracks about the windows, doors, even the keyholes, are sealed. The op- erator uses a heavy zinc can, usually with a flaring top, which is placed on bricks to protect the floor from the heat which will be generated; then into the can he pours measured por- tions of liquid formalin and perman- ganate of potassium, about 6 ounces of permanganate and one pint of forma- lin, for each thousand cubic feet of air space. A room 15 feet feet square would have 15x15 or 225 square feet of floor space; if it have a 10 foot ceiling, there would be 2250 cubic feet. De- ducting for the space occupied by fur- niture, you may calculate such a room as having about 2,000 cubic feet of air space. The operator must retire hastily, for the gas is liberated rapidly. After the room is closed and sealed from the outside, it must not be opened for 6 or 8 hours. If properly done, there can be little doubt about its efficiency. Formaldehyde gas does not injure fur- niture or fabrics. Sulphur dioxide is also widely used for gaseous disinfection, and again the room must be tightly sealed. It requires about five pounds of sulphur per thousand cubic feet of air space, for proper germicidal effect. This ef- fect is entirely lost unless a very large amount of moisture be present. Hence the futility of burning sulphur candles in the dry air of a room. The sulphur should be placed in a pot or pan which rests in a tub, partly filled with water. Crdinary flour of sulphur is best. It can be ignited by hot coals or by soaking a piece of cot- ton or waste in alcohol or turpentine and dropping it lightly into the pot. One advantage of sulphur, if prop- (ble disease, erly applied, is that it will not only destroy bacterial life, but any other thing that creeps or crawls. The ob- jection to sulphur gas is that it cor- rodes metals and is destructive to col- ors. : SANITARY CLEANING. Later experience, however, has proven that gaseous disinfection is not necessary for protection against future contagion. The greater num- ber of States have dropped it from their regulations in regard to terminal disinfection, and have adopted what is known as sanitary cleaning. Sanitary cleaning consists, first, of washing the floor and all the wood- work with soap and water, to which should be added creolin, one teaspoon- ful to the quart of water. The essen- tial features are the soap and water and the vigor with which they are ap- plied. After this, the same surfaces should be gone over again with a solu- tion of chlorinated lime or a solution of creolin, 3 teaspoonfuls to the quart of water, or of any of the standard disinfecting solutions. The wall pa- per, unless of a highly expensive va- riety,should come off and the walls be washed with disinfection solution. If left on, the paper itself should be sub- jected to the same treatment as the wall. Windows should be taken out entire- ly so that the germicidal action of the air and sunlight may have full oppor- tunity to do their share, which is a large one. Such clothing and bed clothing as can be moved should be taken outside and exposed to the sun- light and air. Solid articles of bed- ding which cannot be disinfected, should be burned. Books which were handled by the patient during his ill- ness should be burned. Carpets and rugs cannot be disin- fected by sprinkling solutions over them. Should any person so far over- look the proprieties as to allow car- pets or rugs to remain in a room where there was a case of communica- at its termination they should take them out, thoroughly beat them and expose them to air and sun- light for two or three days, turning them over several times each day. Terminal sanitary cleaning also ap- plies to rooms which have been occu- pied by tuberculous patients. Every parent, teacher and employ- er of labor should familiarize himself with State and local regulations. This knowledge not only protects the com- munity from epidemics, but it fre- quently curtails doctor’s and drug- gist’s bills in the home, raises the standard of attendance and work in schools, and increases efficiency in in- dustrial plants. Send to your local and State health board for information concerning the prevention of communicable diseases. From this literature you will learn ex- actly how absolute and modified quar- antine are applied in your State or community. INFORMATION FOR MOTHERS. When a communicable disease at- {tacks any member of your family, no- tify and co-operate with your depart- ment of public health. Its represen- tatives can save you money, time and worry, and prevent mistakes which | may be costly to yourself and the community. For the benefit of mothers, the fol- lowing information is given showing the period of incubation in diseases most common among children; also giving the regulations in one State covering the lifting of quarantine: Measles, incubation period 9 to 11 days; lifting of quarantine, 16 days after disease develops. German measles, 10 to 20 days; lift- ing quarantine 16 days after disease develcps. Scarlet fever, 2 to 7 days; lifting quarantine, 30 days, with an addition- al 10 days before the child having had scarlet fever may go to school. Chil- dren with running ears are held in quarantine until the secretion stops. Whooping cough, 1 to 3 weeks; lift- ing quarantine; not until paroxysins of coughing stop. : Diphtheria, 1 to 14 days; lifting quarantine; 21 days. If anti-toxins have been used this may be reduced to 14 days provided two negative cul- tures be taken on two different days. Mumps, 4 to 25 days; lifting quar- antine 21 days after disease develops. The “Watchman” gives all the aews while it is news. Can Grow Potatoes Well in all Parts of Pennsylvania. Proof that climatic and soil condi- tions practically all over Pennsylva- nia are generally adapted to the growing of potatoes is held in an an- nouncement by Professor E. L. Nixon, plant disease specialist of The Penn- sylvania State College, regarding high production for the last season. In twenty-three counties of the State he found farmers who raised more than 350 bushels per acre, com- pared with the State average yield of 120 bushels. The remarkable fea- ture of the ability to raise potatoes cheaply lies in the fact that the record counties are not grouped together on one general soil type, and they are not similar in climatic conditions. “If we draw a line east and west through: the exact center of the State we find eleven counties in the northern section where farmers last season pro- duced 350 or more bushels to the acre, and eleven counties south where the same record was attained,” says Pro- fessor Nixon. “Drawing a line from north to south through the center of the State, we find eleven counties east and eleven counties west where grow- ers produced 350 or more bushels to the acre. Centre county in the middle 2150 has growers who boast this rec- ord. “The secret of this low production cost is therefore not so much in loca- tion as it is in a display of what we call ‘potato mentality’—the proper preparation of the soil, the use of dis- ease-free seed and up-to-date cultural methods including spraying for dis- ease contral every ten days or two weeks all through the growing sea- son.” It is estimated that over 25,000 acres of potatoes will be sprayed in Pennsylvania this coming season. SASS AE AAS AS AERA) i ILC] a Il Jl hha [- SASASAL ue il onan Large Size Shoes for Large Women We can fit the very largest foot with Stylish Shoes and give comfort. Yeager’s Shoe Store THE SHOE STORE FOR THE POOR MAN BELLEFONTE, PA. Bush Arcade Building 58-27 RS SS NET ADDITIONS OFFICE EQUIPMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA : 1919 = 1922 y v —1 a Land au Asem —r1 f AN)’ A YU V HA An 09 1920 Wu In TO SELL TELEPHONE CENTRAL 2g BRINE Blea af } lfm ECS dita is | Ten Millions of Dollars’ worth of New Central Office Equipment will be added to the ~ Bell System in Pennsylvania this year Tras money will be spent for new switch- boards,additions to present switchboards, terminal room equipmentand a thousand and one other things which go to make up a modern telephone office. The investment for new equipment will cover every central office in Pennsylvania. As fast as equipment is received from the factories it is placed into service. Never was the demand for telephone service greater and never in the history of the telephone company were such tremen- dous amounts of equipment placed in one year. THE BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY OF PENNSYLVANIA C. W. Heilhecker Ladies Dress Shoes Ladies 1 and 2-Strap Oxfords Come to the “Watchman” office for High Class Job work. Lyon & Co. Lyon & Co. visit to our store will convince you that we have on display an array of Spring Styles that will please and delight the Woman or Miss who is in quest of a Spring Coat, Suit, Cape, Dress or Blouse, at attractively low prices. New Line of Sweaters and Scarfs just arrived—a beautiful combination of . colorings in Silk and Wool. Hosiery Attention, Kiddies-----The new hot weather Socks are now on display—all colors, all lengths, in plain and fancy. Ladies Silk Hose in all colors. Carpets and Draperies Make your Spring house-cleaning easy and your home attractive by buying your Carpets, Rugs, Draperies and Curtains here. Prices to suit all economical buy- ers. ————— Shoes We have Shoes to suit everybody— Mens Working Shoes Ladies Oxfords Childrens Shoes—in All Colors Mens Fine Dress Shoes Lyon & Co. « Lyon & Co
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers