Rubber — An Armor Against Disease Germs 



It is the shield and buckler of quarantine 

 inspectors and health officers in general 



WHILE immigration from Europe 

 has practically ceased because of 

 the war, the number of ships com- 

 ing into our ports daily is still 

 large, and the 

 work of the quar- 

 antine officers at 

 New York city 

 has in no way 

 diminished in 

 importance. 



In examining 

 possible carriers 

 of disease, whether 

 they be human 

 beings or animals, 

 the greatest care 

 must be exercised 

 by the inspectors 

 lest they them- 

 selves be infected 

 or their clothing 

 offer hiding places 

 for the germs. Here is where rubber comes 

 in as an armor. Rubber uniforms are worn 

 which cover the entire body from head to 

 foot. These are worn by nurses and doctors 

 alike and rubber gloves complete the outfit. 

 The clinical thermometers used are held in a 

 hard rubber case. It is not so much from 

 fear of personal consequences that 

 the inspectors, attendants and 

 nurses use the rubber gar- 

 ments, as to facilitate dis- 

 infecting and washing up 

 afterward. 



Where typhoid fever is 

 suspected, the suspect, or 

 "contact," as such a one 

 is called, is removed at 

 once to a ward set apart 

 for the treatment of 

 contagious diseases, 

 while those remaining on 

 board ship are segregated 

 and subjected to an anti- 

 parasitic bath. Each con- 

 tact has an identification 

 number which is hung around 

 his neck on a rubber cord, 

 or necklet. 



During the recent foot- 

 and-mouth disease epidemic 



Disinfecting and fumigating the inspectors' clothing. 

 The fumigating cape completely covers the body 



In examining cattle for evi- 

 dences of foot-and-mouth dis- 

 ease, rubber gloves and 

 aprons are a prime necessity 



among cattle, the quarantine officers were 

 called upon for quick and radical action. 

 An army of i,ooo inspectors was formed 

 and every farm and stockyard in the state 

 was visited and 

 thoroughly investi- 

 gated. Each in- 

 spector was clothed 

 in rubber from 

 head to heel, and 

 in addition he 

 was provided 

 with a rubber 

 fumigating cape 

 and a tin basin 

 and sponge, in 

 order to give his 

 rubber clothing 

 a germicide bath 

 of bichloride of 

 mercury after 

 each inspection. 

 In order to 

 disinfect the clothing lying closer to the 

 body, a white rubber fumigating cape 

 was fastened snugly about the inspector's 

 neck and its folds spread out like a tent 

 over a fumigating mixture composed of 

 formalin and permanganate of potash. 

 When these in their crystalline form 

 are mixed, a vigorous reaction takes 

 place and a large quantity of 

 formaldehyde gas is liberated. 

 Thus, before an inspector 

 left a place, all of his 

 clothing, whether of cloth 

 or rubber, was thoroughly 

 disinfected and as thor- 

 oughly fumigated. 



The actual disinfect- 

 ingof barnyards, stables, 

 stockyards and the like 

 was of course carried out 

 on a larger scale than 

 would be possible by hand 

 distribution of the germi- 

 cide. In some places, for 

 instance, the inspectors were 

 provided with steam-driven 

 disinfecting pumps capable 

 of spraying a large area very 

 quickly. Each pump had at 

 least one hundred feet of hose. 



8JH 



