DIPHTHERIA. 
ITS PREVENTION AND RESTRICTION, 
ISSUED BY THE STATE BOAED 0? HEALTH. 
Diphtheria is a contagious and infectious disease attacking per- 
sons of all ages, but affecting children much more frequently than it 
does adults. It may be communicated from the sick to the well by 
means of spoons, cups, or other articles which pass from mouth to 
mouth, or through the medium of the air, or it may be spread by 
means of infected clothing. 
So generally is diphtheria regarded as due to unsanitary condi- 
tions, that by common consent it is classed among the “filth diseases 
and when we find it arising, apparently independently of sources of 
infection, spontaneously as it would seem, we may be pretty sure that 
something is wrong in the health conditions of the home where it is 
found. 
The unsanitary conditions which seem to give rise to diphtheria may 
be in the direction of the food or water supply : the well may be too near 
the privy or cess-pool, or sink drain, or barnyard, and be polluted by 
soakage through the filthy soil; or the something wrong may be in 
the direction of the air supply : the sleeping rooms and living rooms 
are perhaps not ventilated and the air is rebreathed and repoisoned, 
or a wet and foul cellar is under the house, or sewer gas goes into the 
rooms from defective water-closets or other fixtures, or from sink 
drains, or privies, or cess-pools. 
When once diphtheria has arisen, the law of simple contagion 
carries it to the rich and the pooi, to the cleanly and the uncleanly, 
but not to all alike. Filth invites disease and gives its germs the 
most congenial soil in which to develope into pestilence ; but cleanli- 
ness offers only barren ground for their development. Diphtheria is a preventable disease. Proper preventive meas- 
ures are almost invariably followed by the limitation of the disease to 
the first case or cases. When diphtheria gets away from the 
primary cases and makes its escape upon the community, some- 
body is to blame. The sooner we accept this as a sanitary maxim, 
the sooner we shall begiu to do our duty as individuals and as com- 
munities. 
PREVENTION. 
Keep away from the sources of the contagion. Do not go where 
the disease is, if you can help It; and, above all, do not let your 
children go where it is. Permit no one to come to your home who 
has been where it is. 
From the dwelling and its vicinity banish all sources of filth, 
whether of the ground, of the water or of the air. The ground 
under and around the house, if not naturally dry, should be thorough- 
ly arid deeply drained. 
Diphtheria does not come from far through the air, therefore do 
not shut up your house tightly, thinking thereby to shut out the 
disease. By so doing you shut in the poison of rebreathed air, which 
paves the way and makes it easy for the poison of diphtheria to claim 
your children. Let the sunshine in by day and the pure air both by 
day and night. When diphtheria is prevalent, avoid all crowded 
gatherings ; especially keep children from such places. 
What is apparently only a common sore throat in adults will 
sometimes give rise to an outbreak of diphtheria in children ; there- 
fore, in all cases of sore throat, prudence would dictate caution in 
using dishes which others are to use. A kiss to a child under these 
circumstances may be the unconscious siguature of the little one’s 
death warrant. 
When diphtheria is rife, keep from the children gum, jewsharps, 
harmonicas and other things which go from mouth to mouth. 
Be sure that the drinking water and the milk are pure. 
RESTRICTION. 
As soon as it is found that a person has diphtheria he should 
immediately be separated from the rest of the family and put into a 
sunny and well-ventilated room, preferably on the upper floor, and as 
disconnected as possible from other rooms, especially the living and 
sleeping rooms of children. 
Before moving the patient into the room, all needless articles, 
such as carpets, contents of wardrobes, etc., which would catch the 
infection, should be removed. No other person besides the nurse or necessary attendants and 
the physician should be permitted in the room, and they should take 
special precautions not to carry the infection. Their communication 
with the rest of the family should be as restricted as possible. 
The local board of health, or health officer, should immediately 
be notified and should cooperate with the physician to keep the disease 
from spreading. Children and parents from other houses should be 
warned ; and, if they needlessly and obstinately persist in coming, 
they should be driven away. 
Neither the nurse nor any other person should eat or drink any- 
thing in the sick room or anything which has been there. Food which 
the patient has left should be burned. 
Cats and dogs should be kept from the sick chamber, or better, 
out of the house, for their fur can easily carry the infection. These 
animals, as well as some others, sometimes have diphtheria, and com- 
municate it to children. 
The dishes which the patient uses should not be used by others, 
or washed with other dishes. They should be washed by themselves 
in boiling-hot water. 
The utmost care must be taken that the discharges from the 
mouth, throat and nose do not soil the room or its furnishings. These 
discharges should be received on pieces of cloth and then burned. If 
this cannot be done they should be thoroughly disinfected with Disin- 
fectant No. 5, No. 6, or No. 2. 
The discharges from the kidneys and bowels should be liberally 
treated with Disinfectant No. 5, No. 6, or No. 2, and not poured into 
the privy-vault, but buried, if possible, 200 feet or more from dwell- 
ing houses and water supply. 
The bed and body clothing should not be mixed with the family 
wash, but should be put into boiling-hot Disinfectant solution No. 4, 
or No. 5. 
No person from a house, where there is diphtheria should go into 
public assemblies, such as schools, churches, or concerts. 
Persons who have had diphtheria should not mingle with the pub- 
lic for some time after the last trace of the disease has left the throat 
and nose, and then not until they and all their clothing have been 
thoroughly washed and disinfected. 
In case of death the body should be enclosed in a sheet thoroughly 
wet in Disinfectant No. 4 or No. 5, and put into a tight coffin, which 
should not afterward be opened. The funeral should be strictly pri- 
vate, and in no case should children be permitted to be present. 
After recovery or death, disinfect the room with Disinfectant No. 1. DISINFECTANTS. 
JYo. 1. Sulphur* Fumigation. 
To use this effectively, two pounds of sulphur should be burned in a 
room ten feet square. Every opening into the room, flues, doors, 
windows, cracks and crevices, must be closed, except the door by which 
the disinfector is to esctpe. The sulphur is to be burned in an iron 
kettle or other vessel set in a tub containing a little water to guard 
against fire. A little alcohol or kerosene must be poured upon the 
sulphur, by means of which it may be ignited. Leave the )OOtn quickly, 
for the fumes are highly poisonous when breathed, and close the door 
tightly. Let the room remain closed twenty-four hours or more. Then 
air thoroughly for several days. 
No. 2. For the Discharges. 
Sulphate of Iron (copperas), 3 pounds; warm water, 1 gallon; mix. 
This leaves rust-spots on clothing. 
No. 3. For Privies, Cess-Pools, etc. 
Sulphate of Iron, li pounds; water, 1 gallon; mix. 
No. J±. For Clothing. 
Sulphate of Zinc (white vitriol), 4 ounces; common salt, 2 ounces; 
water, 1 gallon ; mix. 
No. 5. Corrosive Sublimate Solution. 
Corrosive Sublimate, 60 grains: permanganate of potassa, 1 grain; 
water. 1 gallon ; mix. 
Corrosive Sublimate is one of the surest destroyers of disease germs 
known,but its dangerously poisonous qualities make it unsafe for general 
use. It could be used instead of No. 2, or one half this strength instead 
of Nos. 3 and 4. 
No. 6. Chloride of Lime Solution. 
Chloride of Lime of the best quality. 4 ounces; soft water, 1 gallon ; 
mix. This is one of the best and cheapest disinfectants. 
No. 7. 
Boiling for half an hour is the surest way to destroy infection. Im- 
mersion in No. 4. or No. 6, will lessen the danger from infected clothing 
until it can be boiled, which should be done as soon as possible. 
Some of these directions may seem extreme, but they are neces- 
sary, every one of them. It is some trouble to carry them out care- 
fully, but that is nothing compared with the posible results to you, if 
you neglect them ; and, in thinking of the rights of others, remember 
the Golden Rule. 
Please Preserve for Future Reference.