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1905] 130
4.—Handkerchiefs or any clothing which may have become splashed
with the spit, mucous, or expectoration, should be disinfected by
boiling in water, or by soaking in a disinfectant.
5.—Kissing should never be practised, because there is a great
possibility that the germs of the disease may be carried from lips
to lips.
6.—A baby should never be suckled by a mother suffering from consumption.
7.—Clothing, towels, sponges, bedding, etc., should not be used in
common by consumptives and healthy people. Consumptives
should have special articles for their own use.
8.—Special feeding utensils, such as cups, saucers, plates, knives,
forks, spoons, should be provided for consumptives, and should
not be used by any other persons until they have first been boiled
in water.
9.—A consumptive who smokes must not allow another person to use
his tobacco pipe.
10.—When coughing, a consumptive should hold a handkerchief, or
rag, or piece of paper before his mouth, and should never cough
in the direction of another person, because even the fine spray
emitted in the act is laden with germs.
11.—Rooms used by consumptives should always be cleansed with tea
leaves and wet dusters, to prevent the dust, which may contain
disease germs, rising. The tea leaves should be immediately
destroyed, and the dusters boiled.
12.—Allow as much sunshine and fresh air into the rooms as possible.
Sunshine destroys the disease germs, while fresh, pure air inhaled
into the lungs has a similar tendency. Consequently consumptives,
should, as far as possible, live in the open air, and
sleep in rooms with open chimneys and open windows, top and
bottom, avoiding draughts.
The greatest gainer by the adoption of the above precautions is the
patient himself, because his recovery is retarded, and sometimes prevented,
by renewed infection derived from his own expectoration.