TREATMENT OF INFECTED ARTICLES 245 



taking the spoons, knives, cups, and plates from which 

 the patient has taken his meals, and carrying them into 

 the kitchen to be washed with the other household uten- 

 sils for subsequent use by the rest of the family, is a dan- 

 gerous one and is one of the easiest and perhaps most 

 common means of distributing the disease from the sick 

 room to the rest of the household. Doubtless many times 

 the distribution of diseases is attributable to the indiscrim- 

 inate use of the same eating utensils by the family. It 

 is easy to avoid this danger, (i) Allow no one to use the 

 eating utensils which the patient has during his sickness. 

 (2) After his recovery put them into boiling water and 

 leave them for several minutes. Do not wash them 

 with the eating utensils of the rest of the household. 

 Thorough boiling will render them harmless, and there- 

 fore even a knife or a spoon coming from the sick room 

 should be placed in boiling water before it is used by any 

 other person. It must be borne in mind that water that 

 is simply hot is not sufificient for this purpose. The 

 water must be boiling, and it is better if the articles are 

 placed in the water and the water boiled for five or ten 

 minutes before they are taken out to be used. The state- 

 ments made concerning eating utensils apply also to any 

 articles handled by the patient. 



Books used by children recovering from diphtheria or 

 scarlet fever and then returned to a public library may 

 distribute disease through a community. In cities where 

 the schools furnish supplies children should be cautioned 

 against putting into their mouths pencils, etc., particularly 

 those belonging to other children. If a person has a scalp 

 disease, like ringworm, he should not be allowed to use 



