TREATMENT OF THE SICK ROOM 293 



totally different. While the room is occupied by the patient 

 not very much can be done to control the contagion. 

 Plenty of fresh air should be insisted upon, and obtained 

 by the proper opening of windows, care being taken, of 

 course, to shield the patient from draughts. If the room 

 is occupied for some time, it may be well to wash occa- 

 sionally all surfaces of furniture, floors, window sills, etc. 

 with corrosive-sublimate solution as described above. The 

 patient himself, in case of skin disease, may be bathed and 

 his skin be kept moist with water containing a little glycerine 

 or with vaseline. This will materially diminish the chance 

 of having infectious material float from his skin around the 

 room. All contaminated cloths should be burned imme- 

 diately, and care should be taken that no one passes from 

 the sick room to mingle with the other members of the 

 family until he has changed his clothes. 



Care after Vacating. After a room is vacated by the 

 patient it must be disinfected before using it again. Con- 

 cerning the proper treatment of such a room there have 

 been many differences of opinion. For a considerable time 

 it has been a common custom to treat such rooms by a 

 gaseous disinfectant, the general practice being to close the 

 room, sealing all cracks around windows and doors, and 

 then to liberate the disinfectant. For this purpose formalde- 

 hyde gas has been most commonly used, although the fumes 

 of burning sulphur have also been employed. Where such 

 a method is employed it is always best to have it done by 

 a health officer. 



The use of gaseous disinfectants for this purpose is, how- 

 ever, going out of practice and has been largely abandoned 

 by modern health officials. It has been found both useless 



