Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1873 — How to Guard Against and Treat Cholera. [ARTICLE]

How to Guard Against and Treat Cholera.

The Executive Committee of the American Public Health Association have -issued the following circular: ... »._Nzwy<iss,jj.une.ll6 To comljat and arrest the progress,, and prevent the epidemic prevalence of this scourge of sanitary negligence, it is necessary that the inhabitants of every city and town should promptly resort to the most effectual purification, and the best known means of disinfection, and that this sanitary cleansing and preparation should be at once and very thoroughly carried into effeeb-before any eases of cholera occur—and that in the presence of the disease these sanitary duties should be enforced in every household, and throughout tlie entire district. -Experience" has proved that the best way to prevent both pestilence and panic is to know prepare for the danger. It is the only way to deal successfully with cholera. The local conditions that chiefly promote the -outbreaks and propagation of cholera are (1) neglected privies; (2) filth-sodden grounds; (3) foul cellars and filthy or badly-drained surroundings of dwellings; (4) foul and obstructed house-drains; (5) decaying and. putrescent materials, whether animal or vegetable; (6) unventihited, damp and uncleansed dwellings and apartments,

These localizing causes of cholera should be prompt Iv aud very thoroughly removed before a case of the disease appears in the town or district; and if any sources of putrescence or of excessive moisture remain, these should be oontrolled by the proper cleansing, drying and disinfection. . Thorough scavenging and surface drainage, with the application, at the same time of quick-lime and coal-tar or crude carbolic acid; whitewashing with fresh quick-lime; the cleansing and thorough drying and ventilation of cellars, basements, chambers and closets; and daily care to cleanse, Hush, ventihltd and purify the sources of defilement about all inhabited premises, will afford almost complete protection if suitable care is taken of personal health. The security of personal Jjcaltb requires—pure drinking-water, fresh and substantial food, temperance, and the needed relit and bathing of the body. The principles relating to disinfection as, a means of destroying the propagating or jnfec_lious.causc of cholera—thc“choUracontagium” —are readily understood and may lie so explained to any family, that the household may insure its own immunity, against the introduction and spread of the disease. For popular use wc append a brief statement of these principles at the end of this circular; and we respectfully recommend that the statement, and the following schedule of rules and methods be given to the press, and to all principals - of schools, superintendents of places of publitp resort, "Hi ilrbtuUdepbtsr ferries, hotels, and public institutions; and to the masters- of ships and steamboats, and the conductors of passenger trains throughout this continent; believing, as we do, that by the timely and continued application of these measures, the prevalence of cholera may be prevented. But, let the fact be remembered, there can be no substitutes for thorough cleansing and fresh' air. Rules and methods of disinfection. For l'rivirs, Water-closets, Drains, and Sewers. — Eight or ten pounds of sulphate of iron (copperas) dissolved in five or six gallons of water, with half a pint of crude carbolic acid added to the solution and briskly stirred, makes the cheapest and best disinfecting fluid for common use. It can be procured in every town and by every family, and if the carbolic acid is not at hand, the solution of copperas may be used without it. To prevent privies and water-closets from becoming infected and offensive: Pour a pint of-thisstrong-selttlkHi-iuto -every watcr-eloset pan or privy-seat once or twice a day. To disinfect masses of filth, privy-vaults, sewers and drains, gradually pour in this solution until it reaches and disinfects all the foul material. For the chamber vessels used by the sick, and for the disinfection of ground upon which any excremental matter has been cast away, use the solution of copperas and cnfbolic acid; =and, for disinfecting extensive masses or surfaces of putrescent materials, and for drains, sewers and ditches, this disinfecting fluid may be used, or the “dead oil” (“heavy oil”) of -coal-tar, or coal-tar itself; coal-tar may beused as a paint upon the walls of cellars, stables and open drains. Other disinfectants, such as the solutions of segquiehloride of iron, or of chloride of ■ zinc, are effectual in privies and drains, and upon foul surfaces and offensive materials'. Quick-lime is useful- as an absorbent and dryer upon foul walls and in damp places; and whitewashing with it should be practised in common tenements, factories, basements, closets, and garrets. To disinfect the clothing defiled in any manner by excremental matters from the sick, throw all such articles immediately into boiling water and continue the boiling for half an hour; or place them in a solution, covered, made as follows: 1 pound of sulphate of zinc, 6or 8 gallons of w ater, to which add 2or i ounces of pure and strong carbolic acid. Tins is also an excellent disinfectant for bed-pans and chamber vessels; also for disinfecting floors and other defiled surfaces. Keep the soiled articles saturated until they can be boiled. If the acid is not.at haffd, us« the zinc water alone. Apartments, bedding or upholstery that have been used by the sick with cholera or diarrhoea, should be fumigated by the burning of several pounds of brimstone (sulphur) upon a defended iron pan, or I>y carbolic acid, chloride of lime, and sulphuric acid, with the place tightly closed for several hours under a physician’s directions. ' s '_ From being the most feared and destructive pestilence, cholera has become entirely submissive to sanitary measures of prevention, and can now be controlled and extinguished more quickly and completely than any other epidemic disease. Believing, therefore, that the people of the United States w ill wisely apply the suggestions w hich are given in this memorandum, the undersigned Committee presents them for the purpose of hastening and making sure the most extensive, thorough,, and speedy control of this destroyer.