280 BACTERIA, YEASTS, AND MOLDS 



insects, there is absolutely nothing to be feared in night 

 air. While vigorous health is a protection against some 

 diseases (tuberculosis), it is far less efficient against others 

 (smallpox). 



It should always be borne in mind that contagious 

 diseases are real things, and not the result of imagination. 

 They are produced in our bodies by the growth of certain 

 microscopic animals and plants in our blood, muscles, or 

 elsewhere. They cannot be warded off by simply disbe- 

 lieving in their existence, and the sooner the housewife 

 learns that a contagious disease is due to distinct living 

 beings which are transported from one person to another 

 and live as parasites in the patient, the sooner will she be 

 in a position to protect her family from the spread of 

 contagion. 



General Conclusions 



Each type of infectious disease must be fought in its 

 own way. The so-called children's diseases are so decidedly 

 contagious that isolation alone is capable of preventing 

 their distribution. Of the adult diseases, however, the most 

 serious may be largely checked by proper means. Smallpox 

 must be fought with vaccination and isolation ; diphtheria by 

 antitoxin and isolation ; typhoid fever by vaccination, by a 

 guard placed over the water and the milk supplies, and by 

 fighting flies ; malaria by destroying the breeding places of 

 mosquitoes and protecting the body from mosquito bites. 



Of all diseases, however, tuberculosis is most widespread 

 and demands most attention. The common form of this 

 disease is consumption, but the bacteria may attack other 



