The fight with infection : what to do when scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhoid, &c., enter our homes / by William Stephenson.

Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The fight with infection : what to do when scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhoid, &c., enter our homes / by William Stephenson. 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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    T2 destroyed by heat, and various substances known as dis- infectants. This subject will afterwards be treated of in its practical application. The above characters are common to all the infectious poisons. Let us now examine wherein they differ. An accurate knowledge of the essential differences is of great practical importance, for upon them depend the special precautions to be followed in their management. The more important differences lie in (l) The degree of infectious character ; (2) Mode of Propagation ; (3) The period of incubation, and when the infection begins ; (4) The length of time before a patient can be considered personally free from infection. In the management, all the peculiarities must be considered, the one often bearing upon the other, but it is more convenient to describe them under these divisions. I.-THE DEGREE AND NATURE OF THE INFECTIOUS CHARACTER. By the use of the adjective here we mean the risk, which those living in the same house run of taking the disease from the sick ; or of the danger which a person incurs, by visiting a house where there is infection, of carrying it to another house. To understand the subject it is necessary to know certain properties of infection. Some of the poisons may be regarded as volatile,* that is the air in the immediate neighbourhood of a patient or of the poison becomes charged with it, as it may with dust or a perfume ; and a person breathing that atmosphere may in this way contract the disease, or the poison may be deposited upon clothing, as is dust or an odour. Another * The word volatile is not here used in the strict chemical meaning of the term, but denotes only that the air becomes impregnated with poison bear- ing particles.
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