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APPENDIX III.
Notice to workmen engaged in handling rate hides and skins or in sorting horsehair
or wool, and to slaughtermen and others.
The disease known as anthrax occasionally affects animals (especially cattle), and it is in rare
instances communicated to those who handle hides, &c., which have been removed from the carcasses
of such animals. The disease in man is usually inoculated through some scratch or abrasion on the
skin surface, but the poison may be breathed in the form of dust into the lungs, and may possibly gain
entrance to the system by being swallowed with the food.
Malignant Pustule.—The first method (by inoculation beneath the skin) is the usual way in which
the poison is admitted into the system, and when this occurs a tiny boil or pimple appears; inflammation
of the surrounding tissues is soon set up, and in the course of a few days the apparently insignificant
pimple has developed into a swelling of considerable size. The parts of the body attacked by the
disease are those which are uncovered (neck, face, arms, &c.), and which may therefore come into
contact with infected materials. In several instances men who have suffered from the disease have
remembered noticing that before their illness a spot or pimple which they had scratched with their
fingers, or a slight wound or scratch, had existed on the face or neck; into such place the poison
must have entered, as it was there that the swelling afterwards developed.
Internal Anthrax.—When absorbed internally, constitutional symptoms afford the first indication.
These at the commencement are not unlike the symptoms of a feverish cold, except that there is more
marked weakness and depression; generally, too, the breathing becomes from time to time oppressed;
sometimes there is vomiting.
Experience shows that the danger of these conditions is greatly aggravated by neglect in the
early stages. This is particularly the case when the disease is inoculated beneath the skin, and very
serious risk is incurred if no attention is paid to the pimple or boil when it first appears, and if the
swelling is allowed to develope and the general health to become affected before a medical man is
consulted.
It is therefore extremely important that those who have been working with hides, &c., should
seek medical advice if there is the slightest suspicion that the anthrax poison has become lodged beneath
the skin.
The following rules are suggested for the guidance of employers and workmen.
1. The condition of the skin of the uncovered parts of the body should always be
carefully watched, and any crack or sore place should be protected from coming into
contact with the materials handled. In sorting "dead hides" or other material with regard
to which there may be the slightest suspicion, only workers whose skin is absolutely sound
should be employed.
2. Needlessly rough handling of the hides, &c., so as to cause an unnecessary amount
of dust, should be avoided.
3. Coats, &c., should not be hung in the warehouse rooms, and dust should be brushed
from other clothes before leaving work.
4. Food should not be taken in the warehouse rooms; the hands should always be
cleansed before meals. Lavatory accommodation should be provided for workers that they
may have opportunity of thoroughly washing all uncovered parts of the skin when work is
finished. When "dead hides" or other materials with regard to which there may be
suspicion have been handled the men would do well to thoroughly rinse the hands in a
disinfectant* solution before washing.
* The disinfecting fluid may be thus prepared—Dissolve half an ounce of corrosive sublimate
and five grains of commercial aniline blue in three gallons of water and add thereto one fluid ounce of hydrochloric
acid. Preserve in earthenware jars or wooden tubs. This solution being highly poisonous must be kept
under lock and key.