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B.—Sanitary Precautions to be taken in the presence of a threatened outbreak.
1.— Domestic Precautions.
Cisterns should be thoroughly cleansed, overflow pipes therefrom should be
severed from drains, and service pipes therefrom should be cut off from direct
communication with water-closet basins. If a cistern be situated in an inaccessible
position, or have improper connexions, or be otherwise liable to pollution, and if
the water supply be on the constant high-pressure system, it is advisable to
remove the taps from the cistern or service-pipe and to fix them on the main
supply-pipe.
Water-closets, sinks, and drains must be made secure against giving off foul
odours, and should be kept thoroughly cleansed and flushed. Thorough-flushing of
the drains should be carried out daily, by turning on suddenly, and for a short
time, as large a volume of water as possible—a partial prolonged flushing is only
waste of water and useless. All the taps, plugs, and tanks should be turned on in
every house at one o'clock in the day, for five or ten minutes, and the greatest
good would be done thereby in flushing both the house drains and the sewers.
All refuse should be burnt at once, and the ashes be placed in a portable receptacle
ready for the dustman to remove when he calls. The contractors are bound
by their contracts to call at every house in the Parish at least once in every week,
and any omission should be promptly reported to the Health Department, Yestry
Hall, Pancras Road, N.W.
All premises should be kept thoroughly clean, inside and out, and yards and
areas be cleansed daily, and lime-whited when and where necessary. The interior
of rooms and houses should be thoroughly and through-ventilated, and articles of
clothing and furniture be freely exposed to the air.
Stables, cow-houses, slaughter-houses, and other premises occupied by animals
should be cleansed daily, and the manue, offal, and other refuse, removed at short
intervals
2.—Personal Precautions.
A regular and cleanly life must be led. Foods liable to produce disturbances
of digestion, especially those that irritate the stomach or cause diarrhoea, should be
avoided. Food and drink should be cooked or boiled the same day as consumed;
this especially applies to water, milk, vegetables, and many fruits. Tea, coffee,
and cocoa, fresh made with boiling water and boiled milk, are the best form of
drinks.
Remedies should be immediately resorted to in order to check relaxed bowels;
and, if diarrhoea set in, a medical practitioner should be at once consulted.
C.—Sick-room Precautions.
A person suffering from suspicious diarrhoea or vomiting should be at once
isolated and a medical practitioner summoned. Only those on duty and a relation
in an emergency, should be permitted to visit the patient. Healthy persons
attending suspected or infected patients should not eat or drink in the sick room,
but should retire for this purpose to another room, and carefully wash the hands
and face (mouth), and change the outer clothing if necessary before sitting down
to eat. All food or drink leaving the sick room should be cast away or destroyed,
and not, on any account, be consumed by healthy persons.