A manual of infectious diseases / by E.W. Goodall and J.W. Washbourn.

Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of infectious diseases / by E.W. Goodall and J.W. Washbourn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    CONTAGION AND INFECTION. DISEASES which are transmissible from one indi- vidual to another are said to be contagious or infectious. Strictly speaking, the term infectious is applied to diseases transmissible through the air, while the term contagious is used of diseases which are spread by direct contact, or by infected articles (fomites). In this sense small-pox would be called an infectious, and anthrax a contagious disease ; for the former is usually conveyed through the air and the latter by infected articles. But small-pox can infect by direct contact, as in the old preventive treatment of variolation, and anthrax may be conveyed by the air, as occurs in certain forms of wool- sorter's disease. The distinction between infection and contagion thus breaks down, and it is perhaps better to give it up altogether. Nevertheless, we must not lose sight of the fact that some diseases are generally conveyed through the air, and others by direct or indirect contact. With regard to the nature of the contagium, there can be little doubt that the materies morbi is always a living micro-organism. In some diseases—as, for example, relapsing fever, diphtheria, and glanders—this has been definitely proved ; but in others—for example, scarlet is