xx PUBLIC HEALTH AND PERSONAL HYGIENE 309 



head of the family are held responsible for reporting the 

 diseases. In many states the school-teacher is asked to 

 report every case occurring in his school or district. 



Laws in the different states and cities are not uniform 

 as to the diseases that shall be reported. The following 

 are mentioned by most of them : smallpox, cholera, scar- 

 let fever, diphtheria, croup, yellow fever, typhus fever, 

 typhoid fever, measles, whooping cough, consumption, 

 meningitis, and leprosy. A few cities require reports on 

 chicken pox, erysipelas, mumps, relapsing fever, dysen- 

 tery, trichinosis, plague, pneumonia, glanders, and 

 malaria. The fines for failure to report communicable 

 diseases range from twenty-five to one thousand dollars. 



After the case is reported the posting of placards is 

 required in most cities to indicate the fact that there is 

 danger and the public should take warning. For the 

 more dangerous diseases the patient should be isolated 

 from the other members of the family or, still better, 

 taken to a hospital until he recovers. If the patient is not 

 taken to a hospital, all children and persons who come 

 in contact with children should be kept indoors. Every 

 city takes great pains to control these diseases so that 

 they shall not spread. As soon as a case is reported and 

 precautions taken to prevent the spread of the disease, 

 the health officers should make a thorough investigation 

 of the surroundings to ascertain the cause. A warning 

 to the public as to the source of the danger is often the 

 only means of checking the progress of a disease. 



218. Schools and Diseases. The health officers and 

 teachers should suspend from school all children who 



