MAY The world outside is reawakening to new life and the healthy human being responds to the spirit of the season. In May the love of life and the love of adventure and the love of the beautiful world about us is astir; yet even in the face of the spring's advance, which ought to bring life and health to everyone, the cases of communicable disease continue to develop and more and more beds will be sickbeds, if we do not stop the spread of our invisible microbic enemies. Diphtheria and scarlet fever still cast their shadow of suffering upon thousands of homes in spite of the knowledge that ought to banish them, along with the bygone plagues of the Middle Ages. Isolation of a case of communicable disease The care of a case of scarlet fever or other communicable disease, so that it may not spread to other people is not only far more effective to-day than it once was but far less burdensome and inconvenient for the family as well. Except in the case of smallpox the members of the family who do not come in contact with the patient can continue their usual business unless such business brings them in close contact with children. A room as much apart from the rest of the house as possible should be set aside for the patient and the nurse or mother or attendant. Disease germs will not fly through the air from such a room; they can only be carried on the hands or clothing of the attendant, or on cups, spoons and other objects taken out of the room. The first of all rules for isolation then is that the attendant and the physician and anyone else who enters the sick room and touches anything there should thoroughly wash the hands on leaving the room, and if there is danger of the clothing being soiled as by the coughing of the patient, a special gown should be worn and left in the room on going out. The second rule is that objects in the room handled by the patient or by the nurse while she is attending the patient should not be taken. from the room until they have been disinfected; and it is important during the course of the disease to keep the sick room itself as free as possible from gross infection. In the case of such diseases as scarlet fever and diphtheria, all discharges from the mouth, throat and nose and eyes and ears should be disinfected with particular care. If these precautions are taken during the course of the disease, infection will be checked, and in most cases nothing more need be done at the close of the disease than to give the patient a bath and thoroughly cleanse and disinfect the room and its contents in accordance with the special published rules and regulations of the State Department of Health. Special circulars on Cleansing and Disinfection, The Conduct of an Isolation Period in the Home and Amusements for Convalescent Children may be obtained by sending a two-cent stamp for postage to the New York State Department of Health, Albany. Florence Nightingale born, 1820.. 4.42 7.03 3.29 13. 14. Fri. Thur... County Hospital law went into effect, 1909. 4.41 4.40 15. Sat.. Charles W. Stiles born, 1867 16.. Sun... William H. Seward born, 1801.. 4.38 7.07 9.57 17.... Mon... Edward Jenner born, 1749. Act to amend Public Health Law of New 18.... Tues... State Department of Health created, 1880. JUNE The sun is high, and the long summer evenings in the country are fragrant with sweet odors. Every tree is bursting with green. The warmth that brings life to flower and tree is not so good for human beings. In the great cities the sun beats pitilessly on the pavements, and in crowded tenement rooms the evening breezes do not penetrate and the night brings no relief. Grown people can stand extreme changes in temperature and be not much the worse for them. To little children, however, the summer heat is a grave danger. Last year over 4000 babies died of summer diarrhea in New York State. Think of it! 4000 mothers a whole army of them each one watching her little baby gasping for breath in deadly illness. They were needless, these summer deaths of infants; most of them might have been prevented. Let us prevent them this summer. Summer care of babies The first of all rules for the summer care of babies is proper feeding. A baby brought up on the right food can stand the heat and keep as well as at any other time of year; but there is only one really right food, and that is mother's milk. Breast-fed babies are safe against summer diarrhea. If they cannot get breast milk, the next best food is properly prepared and clean cow's milk which has been pasteurized or heated to 145 degrees for thirty minutes. Uncooked cow's milk in hot weather may prove a deadly poison. In hot weather the baby needs less food but more to drink. It should nurse less often, but cooled, boiled water should be given freely between feedings. We must remember that the baby feels the summer heat more than grown people do. It should be clothed lightly (on very hot days only a shirt band and diaper need be worn) and kept out-of-doors as much as possible, or at least where there is a breeze. At night it should sleep in a crib or basket by itself. It should be bathed morning and evening, and on hot days, also in the middle of the day. The first thing to do when the baby vomits or has frequent green stools is to stop all food at once and give only cooled boiled water or barley water. Then send for your physician and do not take any chances. With proper care and feeding the baby should recover promptly. Summer diarrhea is dangerous and fatal only when the milk is continued and treatment of the disease neglected. Circulars on the Care of the Baby, Pasteurization of Milk, and similar topics may be obtained by sending a two-cent stamp for postage to the State Department of Health, Albany. JULY The crops are coming on fast der the influence If 1 fur sUL and the noontide is full of the hum cf insects, rhe summer breeds ble of myriad kinda. In the evening you will see clouds of mosquitoes hovering over the stagnant pools, and every now and then dipping down ʼn ne surmare of the water. They are laying little masses of eggs which men i two into tiny wigglers. When you dip up a tupful of vaser com such a mosquito breeding pool, you will find it swarming via then- Imje brown fellows jerking themselves up and down through the valer At this time, too, you begin to notice what a sacre the flies are which swarm into the kitchen and all over the dinner table if the house is not well screened. They lay their eggs in the manure pile and other heaps of organic filth, and their maggots are little whinst wrems which feed and grow for about ten days and then burrow down in the ground and form a brown pupa from which the fly comes out. Keeping down flies and mosquitoes They are not only nuisances, but they are real dangers to healththese flies and mosquitoes that the summer breeds. Certain kinds of mosquitoes carry the germs of malaria from one person to another by Ser bites, and the ordinary house fly is bred in filth and all his life he frequents filthy places and picks up countless germs cn his feet and Shen carries them to the kitchen or dining-room table with him The best way to control these pests is not to let them breed Mosquitoes develop in small stagnant pools and sluggish streams, and if sich pools are drained so as to have a free flow, and if there are no Werrels or fin cans or old wells holding water for them to breed in, eneghborhood will be free from their attacks. If there are mostoes about your house, let the children organize a scouting party and go with cups or dippers to find the enemy and then remove the stagnant water or pour a little kerosene oil on the surface of the pools so that mosquitoes can no longer breed. The By is harder to control than the mosquito, for he lives in all sorts of decaying filth. You can reduce the number of flies, however, by keeping the place as clean as possible from rubbish and particularly by caring properly for manure, since a manure pile is the place in which flies breed by choice, A small amount of borax sprinkled daily on manure or other refuse will prevent flies from breeding. Meanwhile, if your neighborhood is not wholly free from insect pests, remember that screened windows and doors, particularly in the kitchen and dining-room, are a good cheap form of insurance against insect borne disease A circular on the fly and fly control may be obtained by sending a twocent stump to the State Department of Health, Albany. |