252 STERILIZATION, ANTISEPSIS AND DISINFECTION 



5. Ozone. Nascent oxygen in actual contact with bacteria is a 

 powerful germicide, and aside from the cost of production, it is of 

 value for the purification of water for domestic purposes. As an aerial 

 disinfectant, however, it has been disappointing. 



PRACTICAL DISINFECTION. 



Sputum. The bacteria and other microorganisms which incite 

 disease of the mouth, nose and respiratory tract leave the patient 

 chiefly in the nasal secretion and sputum. They are eliminated in 

 "droplets" of sputum during violent expulsion of the expired air, as 

 in coughing and sneezing. The patient, therefore, should be instructed 

 to cough or sneeze into paper or cloth napkins, to prevent the escape 

 of infected droplets of sputum, and to expectorate into a sputum box 

 provided with a cover. The paper napkins should be placed in a 

 covered receptacle and eventually burned. Cloth napkins may be 

 satisfactorily treated by complete immersion in boiling water for at 

 least fifteen minutes. 



Sputum may be disinfected with 5 per cent, carbolic or cresol solu- 

 tion, or with a 5 per cent, solution of formalin. At least one hour's 

 exposure to the disinfectant is required. 



Vomitus. An elimination of pathogenic bacteria from the body 

 in vomitus is by no means impossible, although relatively little atten- 

 tion has been paid to this subject in the past. The cholera vibrio s 

 probably the most formidable organism to be reckoned with, but the 

 possibility of typhoid bacilli must be borne in mind. Vomitus should 

 be handled with the same precautions as infected feces. 



Feces and Urine. Those organisms which are the etiological agents 

 of infections involving the gastro-intestinal tract, as typhoid, dysen- 

 tery, paratyphoid bacilli and cholera vibrios, amoebae, and probably 

 the unknown excitants of the intestinal disorders escape from the 

 diseased host chiefly in the feces, and occasionally in the urine. 



The feces and urine should be received in porcelain or metal con- 

 tainers of appropriate pattern to prevent mechanical loss of material 

 and immediately mixed with twice the volume of carbolic acid or 

 cresol solution, an equal volume of 5 per cent, formalin solution, or 

 with chloride of lime in the proportion of 10 per cent, of the total 

 volume of feces and urine. The fecal mass, unless completely fluid, 

 should be intimately mixed with the disinfectant solution and allowed 

 to remain in contact with it at least an hour. The soiled parts of the 



