2S6 BACTERIA, YEASTS, AND MOLDS 



difficult. Fortunately this is not a common method of dis- 

 tribution, for all recent experience tends to show that it is 

 rare and that the danger is confined to the immediate 

 vicinity of the patient. The germs given off from him 

 soon settle to the floor, and as a rule live only a short 

 time. Measles, scarlet fever, and smallpox may be thus dis- 

 tributed, and a person may take them without coming in 

 actual contact with the patient, when no other means of 

 infection is known save that of air currents. The distribu- 

 tion of disease bacteria by means of air, however, does not 

 extend very far from the patient. It is, in fact, questioned 

 to-day whether air plays an important part in the distri- 

 bution of even these diseases. It was once blamed in the 

 case of almost any disease whose distribution seemed mys- 

 terious. If, however, we stop to realize how easy it is to 

 come into indirect contact with a patient through articles 

 contaminated with his discharges, it is doubtful whether 

 one need take the air into account at all as an agent of 

 dissemination. If, moreover, bacteria are thrown off into 

 the air by a patient they must rapidly settle to the floor, 

 and the danger of taking such disease decreases rapidly as 

 we pass from the immediate vicinity of the patient. 



From these facts we can conceive that the dust and dirt 

 collecting on the floor of the sick room may become a source 

 of trouble. The dust that accumulates on the floors, walls, 

 window sills, or doors, or on any article of furniture in the 

 room occupied by a patient is likely to contain the living 

 disease bacteria. Such material is therefore a source of 

 contagion, and in protecting a family from attacks of con- 

 tagious diseases the dust accumulations of the sick room 

 must be looked upon as a special source of danger. 



