470 MAX CONTROLS HIS ENVIRONMENT FOR HEALTH 



Practical Exercise 9. Show how typhoid fever might be eradicated in this 

 country. Think back to your general science work and show the different 

 methods by which people can be protected from this disease. 



Septic sore throat. This disease is characterized by severe sore 

 throat and fever, and is often followed by heart or kidney trouble. 

 This is another disease carried by milk, and is caused by a strep- 

 tococcus. The disease is probably given to cows by human 

 beings who may be carriers. The cow may harbor the germ for 

 several weeks and persons drinking unpasteurized milk from such a 

 cow may take the disease. Several severe epidemics have been 

 recorded, in Baltimore, Chicago, Lee, Massachusetts, in 1928, and 

 other cities, but the worst was an outbreak of 2000 cases in 

 Boston, in 1911. 



Tetanus. The bacillus causing tetanus is another toxin-forming 

 germ. It lives in dust and dirt and is often found on the skin. 

 It enters the body through cuts or bruises. It seems to thrive 

 best in less oxygen than is found in the air. It is therefore im- 

 portant not to use adhesive tape over wounds until they have 

 been treated with antiseptics. The low death rate from tetanus in 

 the World War was due largely to the fact that wounds were washed 

 with powerful antiseptics and anti-tetanus serum was administered 

 as soon as possible after the wounded were reached. 



Other diseases caused by bacteria. A group of bacteria which 

 cause pneumonia, erysipelas, and other common infections besides 

 septic sore throat are the so-called streptococci. Other coccus 

 forms, the staphylococci (staf-i-16-kok'si), are responsible for boils 

 and abscesses. A micrococcus causes one of the pernicious vene- 

 real diseases, which produces terrible results. Other forms of 

 micrococci probably cause cerebro-spinal meningitis (inen-in-jl'tis), 

 formerly a fatal disease of the spinal cord but now often treated 

 successfully with serums. Anthrax or splenic fever, Malta fever, 

 whooping cough, bubonic plague, gas gangrene, one form of 

 dysentery, cholera, and many other diseases are definitely associ- 

 ated with specific forms of bacteria. In all of these diseases, 

 contact with the person ill with the disease or, in some cases, 

 with a carrier of the disease, is usually sufficient to cause its 

 spread. 



