Sanitation 341 



and the toxicity of the micro-organism so feeble, bacteriolysis 

 is to be aimed at. The most recent experiments upon the 

 serum therapy of pneumonia by Passler* show some gain 

 over the earlier work and give us a more hopeful outlook. 



Sanitation. Pneumonia is undoubtedly a contagious 

 disease. Exactly how infection takes place is not known, 

 but seeing that the infectious agent is in the respiratory tract 

 from which it is easily discharged into the atmosphere during 

 cough, etc., and the facility with which it can then be inhaled 

 by those nearby, it seems justifiable to conclude that the 

 primary entrance of the organism into the body is through 

 the respiratory tract. Woodf has shown that " the organ- 

 isms in the sputum do not remain long in suspension and die 

 off rapidly under the action of light and desiccation. In 

 sunlight or diffuse daylight the bacteria in such powder die 

 within an hour, and in about four hours if kept in the dark. 

 The danger of infection from powdered sputum may, there- 

 fore, be avoided by ample illumination and ventilation of the 

 sick-room in order to destroy or dilute the bacteria, and by 

 the avoidance of dry sweeping or dusting. Articles which 

 may be contaminated and which cannot be cleaned by cloths 

 dampened in a suitable disinfectant should be removed from 

 the patient's vicinity." 



"When a person suffering from pneumococcus infection 

 coughs, sneezes, expectorates or talks", particles of sputum 

 or saliva which may contain virulent pneumococci are ex- 

 pelled from the mouth. Such particles remain suspended in 

 the air for a number of hours if the ventilation of the room 

 is good. They may be inhaled by persons in the vicinity of 

 the patient, or they may be deposited upon various articles 

 in the room. Whether suspended in the air or dried upon 

 surrounding objects, the writer's studies show that they 

 become harmless in a very short time, about an hour and a 

 half being the extreme limit, while many of the pneumococci 

 in the spray perish in a few moments, especially if exposed 

 to strong light." 



"In the light of these experiments the risk of infection 

 from the pneumococcus is largely confined to those in direct 

 contact with the person whose excreta contain the organism." 



* "Deutsches Archiv. fur klin. Med.," Bd. LXXXII, Nos. 3, 4, 1905; 

 "Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc.," May 13, 1905, p. 1538. 



t " Jour. Exp. Med.," Aug. 25, 1905, vn, No. 5, p. 624. 



