COMMISSION OF IMMIGRATION AND HOUSING. 15 



V. 

 Kitchen and Mess-house. 



1. The kitchen and mess-house should be thoroughly cleaned at least 

 once a week, and the floor should be swept daily. Dry sweeping 

 should be discouraged. 



2. All persons engaged in cooking and handling the food should be 

 carefully examined, with particular attention as to whether or not they 

 have suffered from typhoid fever or tuberculosis within recent years. 



A recent official investigation into a typhoid outbreak of 93 cases at 

 Hanford, traced the infection to food which had been contaminated 

 during preparation by a woman recently recovered from typhoid. 



Mild or ambulatory cases of typhoid fever are frequently unrecog- 



Exterior of dining tent and kitchen, after remodeled by the Commission. 



nized by a layman and are then as dangerous for infection as the 

 severer cases. 



Typhoid infection very frequently takes place in the labor camps 

 because persons preparing the food are "typhoid carriers." It is of 

 record that certain persons though entirely recovered from typhoid 

 have remained carriers and distributers of the germs for years. 



The excreta and urine of such a person, who is a carrier of typhoid 

 infection, is full of thousands of germs. If a fly reaches this excreta, 

 his wings and feet are covered with a multitude of these virulent 

 germs and if he touches food, the new infection of a healthy person is 

 completed. This is the medical reason for screened toilets and an 

 efficient disposal of manure and garbage. 



