448 DISINFECTION 



" When this has been done, if the personal precautions advised 

 are carried out by the consumptive, further disinfection should not 

 be needed. 



" It is, however, difficult to make sure that personal precautions 

 are fully carried out, and rooms should therefore be subsequently 

 cleaned at least once in six months, the floors being scrubbed with 

 soft soap, the furniture washed, the walls cleaned down with dough, 

 and the ceiling whitewashed. 



"Confined workshops in which a consumptive has worked for 

 some time should be cleansed, and a notice in reference to spitting 

 should be suspended in all workshops. The latter precaution should 

 also be observed in all public-houses and common lodging-houses, 

 both of which require special attention to cleansing. 



"Disinfection of rooms which have been occupied by con- 

 sumptive patients may be secured in various ways, but the following 

 are the practical rules which must underlie any methods adopted : — 



" 1. Gaseous disinfection of rooms, or ' fumigation ' as it is 

 termed, by whatever method it is practised, is inefficient in such 

 cases. 



" 2. In order to remove and destroy the dried infective discharges, 

 the disinfectant must be applied directly to the infected surfaces of 

 the room. 



"3. The disinfectant may be applied by washing, brushing, or 

 spraying. 



"4. Amongst other chemical solutions used for this purpose, a 

 solution of chloride of lime (1 to 2 per cent.) has proved satisfactory 

 and efficient. 



" 5. In view of the well-established fact that it is the dust from 

 dried discharges which is chiefly infective, emphasis must be laid 

 upon the importance of thorough and wet cleansing of infected 

 rooms. 



" 6. Bedding, carpets, curtains, wearing apparel, and all similar 

 articles belonging to or used by the patient, which cannot be 

 thoroughly washed, should be disinfected in an efficient steam 

 disinfector. 



" 7. After all necessary measures of disinfection have been carried 

 out, the essential principle governing the subsequent control of a 

 case of consumption is that all discharges, of whatever kind (especi- 

 cially expectoration from the lungs), should under no circumstances 

 be allowed to become dry." 



In Manchester and other places, where disinfection after phthisis 

 is regularly practised, a solution of chlorinated lime of the strength 

 of 1^ ounces to the gallon is used. The wall-paper is thoroughly 

 saturated with this solution, applied with a soft brush or spray. 



