Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1885 — Contagion by Mail. [ARTICLE]

Contagion by Mail.

The possibility of the communication of contagious diseases by mail has more than once been proven, but a physician of Watertown, N. Y., reports a case which should be underscored. A little girl dying with scarlet fever wished to send a dying kiss to a little friend. She pressed her lips to a letter which her mother was writing to a relative, and a circle was drawn around the spot that was kissed. The letter passed through the mails, and the little friend received the message of love by kissing the circumscribed spot on the letter. What could be more natural and affectionate ? Shortly afterward the child was attacked by the scarlet fever and died, and as it was the only case in the place the physician believes that the contagion was communicated by the letter. Cases have been reported of the transmission of contagious diseases in books that were read by sick persons. No time nor distance serves to destroy the germs of contagion, and there is some reason to believe that paper is quite as likely to absorb them as clothing and other porous materials. One who has seen the infinitesimal germs of disease multiplying under a microscope can readily understand how a single germ, though only one twenty-thou-sandth of an inch in length, communicated by a letter or a paper or a book, may carry disease or death in its train. People receiving letters from places known to be infected with small-pox or scarlet fever or diphtheria would do well to take their own precautions against contagion. Fumigation with sulphur is generally effective to kill the germs. Better, perhaps, is exposure to steam-heat. Heat of the degree of boiling water is death to all microb e life. —Springfield Union.