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(g) Polluted Drinking Water. Diarrhœal disease has frequently
been traced to this cause.
(h) Stale or Tainted Food, especially Meat, Fish, Fruit and
Milk. Food stored in ill-ventilated cupboards, or exposed
to foul smells, very soon decomposes; and, if so taken,
will undoubtedly cause diarrhœal disease. This is especially
the case with milk, the chief diet of infants. These are, as
above pointed out, the chief sufferers from this complaint.
Heat or dryness of the atmosphere alone, it is believed, will
not cause summer diarrhœa; but a combination of these, with one
or more of the other conditions will undoubtedly bring about a
prevalence of this disease. •
From a consideration of the above conditions favourable to the
spread of summer diarrhœa it will be readily seen what measures
should be adopted in order to bring about a decrease in its prevalence.
Measures to be Adopted to Prevent the Spread of Infantile
Diarrhœa.
1. Offensive smells or the presence of rats or any defects in
the water closets or drainage of the house should be at once reported
to the Public Health Department.
2. House refuse must not be allowed to accumulate on the
premises until it becomes a nuisance, but should be removed at
frequent intervals. This will be done every week by the Borough
Council's dustmen, who are instructed to call once a week at every
inhabited house in the parish. Any neglect to make the weekly
visit should be at once reported to the Public Health Department.
Householders should recognise their own responsibility in this
matter by always allowing the dust to be removed when called for
If possible, all vegetable refuse should be burned, provided it can
be done without creating a nuisance. Dustbins ought to be portable,