THE MICROBES THAT MAKE US SICK 69 
disease germs are carried that is really more 
dangerous than any of the other ways. It has 
been found that the germs of typhoid fever, 
diphtheria, and several other diseases, can live 
for a long time in the bodies of healthy people. 
After a person has had one of these diseases, 
the germs may go on living in his body for 
some time, and may be given off to other people 
whom this person meets. Healthy people 
sometimes get such germs into their bodies from 
a person who has them, and, while not happen¬ 
ing to get sick themselves, they pass the germs 
to others who are not strong enough to fight 
the germs, and so they become ill. These 
carriers, as they are called, usually do not know 
that they have the germs, and it is almost 
impossible to know who these dangerous people 
are. But scientists and doctors believe that they 
are one of the chief means by which some 
diseases are spread. 
There are a few other diseases that are 
spread, not by germs from the bodies of sick 
people, but by being carried from one person 
Do they affect 
all people in 
the same way? 
