SANITARY PRIVY. 9 
and only about ssés0 of an inch in thickness. Like molds and 
yeasts, they are plants, and under favorable conditions (as in milk, 
for instance) they multiply at a very rapid rate, so that in a few 
hours a single germ may increase to thousands. Thousands of these 
little germs may be contained in a particle of feces no larger than 
the head of an ordinary pin, or in a small drop of urine, and hundreds 
may be carried on the leg of a fly (fig. 1). A person suffering from 
typhoid fever discharges myriads of these germs in the stools and 
urine. Therefore, the excreta from typhoid patients should be re- 
garded as highly poisonous, and everything which may become soiled 
with the smallest quantity of feces or urine should be thoroughly 
disinfected by heat or chemicals. 
After being discharged in the excreta from the bodies of persons, 
typhoid germs gradually die out, but the length of time during which 
they will survive in the excreta is affected by a number of conditions; 
im some instances they have been found to live for over a year in 
the contents of privies and privy vaults and in excreta mixed with 
earth. Therefore, excreta which have been passed through a septic 
tank or which have been stored for 
months in a privy or privy vault 
should not be regarded as being 
free from typhoid germs. 
Persons in the early stages of 
typhoid fever, before becoming ill 
enough to take to bed (and some Fie. 1.—A fly with germs (greatly mag- 
time perhaps before the physician oe eee: 
is called in), may discharge typhoid germs in their excreta. Some 
persons contract infection and though having symptoms of the dis- 
ease in a mild form ({‘ walking cases of typhoid fever ”) never be- 
vome ill enough to give up and take to bed. Other persons contract 
and harbor the infection for a few days or weeks without showing 
any symptoms whatever (“temporary typhoid-bacillus carriers”). 
In many instances the excreta from such persons are as heavily 
charged with typhoid germs as are those from persons suffering 
with the severest attacks of the disease. Some persons recovered 
from attacks of the disease continue to discharge typhoid germs in 
their stools or urine, or both, for weeks, months, or even years 
(“chronic typhoid-bacillus carriers”). In view of all these now 
thoroughly established facts, it is evident that to prevent the spread 
of typhoid infection from persons it is necessary to dispose properly 
of the excreta from all persons at all times. This can be done by 
the use of sanitary privies. 
If the excreta are not properly disposed of it is readily under- 
stood that the germs may be carried in a number of ways to the 
100836°—Bull 463—11——2 
