Contagious Consumption 



The following report on consumption as a contagious disease 

 was yesterday approved by the Health Department: 



Health Department 

 Division of Contagious Diseases 

 309 Mulberry Street, July 9, 1889 



Rules to be Observed for the Prevention of the 

 Spread of Consumption 



Pulmonary tuberculosis (consumption) is directly communicated from one 

 person to another. The germ of the disease exists in the expectoration of per- 

 sons afflicted with it. The following extract from the report of the pathologists 

 of the Health Department explains the means by which the disease may be 

 transmitted : 



"Tuberculosis is commonly produced in the lungs (which are the organs 

 most frequently affected) by breathing air in which living germs are suspended 

 as dust. The material which is coughed up, sometimes in large quantities, by 

 persons suffering from consumption contains these germs often in enormous 

 numbers. This material when expectorated frequently lodges in places where 

 it dries, as on the street, floors, carpets, handkerchiefs, etc. After drying in 

 one way or another, it is very apt to become pulverized and float in the air 

 as dust." 



By observing the following rules the danger of catching the disease will be 

 reduced to a minimum: 



1. Do not permit persons suspected to have consumption to spit on the 

 floor or on cloths unless the latter be immediately burned. The spittle of per- 

 sons suspected to have consumption should be caught in earthen or glass 

 dishes containing the following solution: Corrosive sublimate I part, water 

 1,000 parts. 



2. Do not sleep in a room occupied by a person suspected of having con- 

 sumption. The living rooms of a consumptive patient should have as little 

 furniture as practicable. Hangings should be especially avoided. The use of 

 carpets, rugs, etc., ought always to be avoided. 



3. Do not fail to wash thoroughly the eating utensils of a person suspected 

 of having consumption as soon after eating as possible, using boiling water for 

 the purpose. 



4. Do not mingle the unwashed clothing of consumptive patients with simi- 

 lar clothing of other persons. 



5. Do not fail to catch the bowel discharges of consumptive patients with 

 diarrhoea in a vessel containing corrosive sublimate I part, water 1,000 parts. 



7 



