CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES 859 



posited. Such layer should be an inch deep. Precautions regarding the seats, door- 

 knobs, hands, etc., should be followed as above described. The difficulty in en- 

 forcing these precautions makes fly-screening a better plan. 



Soiled bed clothing or other clothing, handkerchiefs, etc., may be rolled up and 

 placed directly in boiling water; but if some interval must elapse before they can be 

 boiled, they should be put directly into s per cent carbolic acid solution, or o.i of i 

 per cent bichloride of mercury solution or other disinfectant of similar killing power 

 for at least half an hour. Thereafter they may be handled as uninfected clothing. 



Eating utensils after use should go directly into boiling water for several minutes 

 and then be washed in the ordinary way. Spoons used for medicine, toys, ther- 

 mometers, etc., which it may be inconvenient or impossible to put into boiling water; 

 should be immersed in 5 per cent carbolic acid or o.i per cent bichloride solution for 

 half an hour, then washed. 



These solutions may be used also for the handsand a large bowl of one or both of 

 them (carefully labelled, and out of reach of children, etc.) should be constantly 

 ready; into this the patient's and attendant's hands should be dipped after every 

 contamination. 



Discharges from the nose and mouth should be collected on paper or rags and 

 burned at once. If inconvenient to burn them, they should be dropped into carbolic 

 or bichloride solutions as above, and disposed of as harmless after a half-hour's 

 soaking. 



It is difficult to specify every form of contact to be guarded against by disin- 

 fection, but the foregoing are the chief ones to watch for, and the principles given 

 should be widely and intelligently applied — remembering always that the dis- 

 charges contain the danger. 



Terminal Disinfection. — ^Sulphur disinfection (4 pounds burned for every 

 1,000 cubic feet of space, in the presence of steam sufficient to saturate the atmos- 

 phere) is effective for disease bacteria — also for roaches, bedbugs, etc., and for 

 mice, rats, etc. But it injures fabrics by bleaching them, and metals by tarnishing 

 them. Formaldehyde vapor is now used in its place for disinfection; but flies, 

 bedbugs, etc., are not successfully exterminated thus. The most recent approved 

 method for use in the disinfection of houses is the Minnesota State Board of 

 Health potassium permanganate formaldehyde method. 



For each 1,000 cubic feet of space the following should be used: 



Potassium permanganate (crystals) 11 ounces 



Solution formaldehyde (U. S. P. 1900) 11 ounces 



Water 9 ounces 



Directions for use: 



Prepare the room to be disinfected by sealing all cracks, windows, ventilators, 

 etc., and all the doors but the one for exit, with wet newspaper strips; open all 

 blankets, drawers, etc.; separate and open up all books, clothing, etc., in the room. 

 Have wet strips of paper in readiness to seal the last door when the disinfection 

 has been started and the operator has left the room. The windows should be left 

 unlatched -so that they may be opened from the outside after the disinfection is 

 completed. 



