Enteric fever : its prevalence and modifications, aetiology, pathology and treatment as illustrated by Army data at home and abroad / by Francis H. Welch.

  • Welch Francis H.
Date:
1883
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Enteric fever : its prevalence and modifications, aetiology, pathology and treatment as illustrated by Army data at home and abroad / by Francis H. Welch. 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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    keep them for the case itself, expose them well to the air when not wanted, thoroughly clean and disinfect them each time, place a disinfectant at the bottom before use ; we may cover the stool as soon as passed with more disinfectants and dry earth, remove it at once and dispose of it without delay, not mixing it with other stools but burying it if possible ; perhaps the best disinfectants we can use are the chloride of zinc and carbolic acid. That by the means commonly adopted we temporarily disinfect the dejecta, and as a rule prevent infection to the individuals employed in the case, cannot be questioned ; but can we say that we have rendered them harmless in the future, and in a state to be passed into a latrine, sewer, or filth cart, with consequent commingling with other ordure and discharge in river or sea, or use as manure, for this after all is the point ? We know that the stools are infectious, that a small quantity suffices to infect many, that each case produces probably from 1 to 2 pints at least in the 24 hours and for several continu- ous days ; to destroy the contained cause the mate- rial we use must be very potent, caustic and thoroughly devitalizing in its effects, and in proportion to the stools ; by thoroughly saturating the dejecta we pos- sibly can do it, but to the extent and way we usually apply agents I must admit that I am highly sceptical as to the result. And if we do not destroy the disease cause it is evident that we run the risk of continuing the disease on from one generation to another, from one corps to a succeeding corps in a station, in spite of all our sanitary measures and good systems of conservancy. We see enteric fever continued on from year to year in the civil communities, and the same disease forms an important item in the yearly