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18
Ways in which Typhoid Fever may be Conveyed.
The bacilli may be conveyed from the patient to other individuals
in various ways:—
(1) Through the handling of the body, clothing, bedding, utensils,
or other things which have been polluted with the discharges of the
typhoid fever patient.
(2) Through the air coming either from drains,cesspits and other
deposits which have been contaminated with the discharges from typhoid
fever patients, or from soil so contaminated.
(3) Through ordinary food (especially drinking water and milk),
which has been exposed to air contaminated in the ways mentioned
above; or has been directly polluted by deposits, leaking cesspits, sewers,
drains, &c., containing discharges from typhoid fever patients. The
poison of typhoid fever is also sometimes conveyed through ices, and
probably through watercress, and various other food materials which
have been in contact with polluted water, and have not been cooked
before being eaten.
Prevention of Typhoid Fever.
DUTIES OF THE NURSE.
The honour and the responsibility of holding and guarding the first
line of defence against invasion by typhoid fever belongs to our nurses.
When the living typhoid bacilli, contained in the discharges and
urine of a typhoid fever patient, have once been allowed to escape into
the outer world it becomes almost impossible to detect them again, or to
learn what becomes of them; whilst the difficulty of protecting human
beings and their surroundings from them becomes increased to an
incalculable extent.
It is the duty of every nurse to recognise the great responsibility
incurred in nursing a typhoid fever patient, to realise the power which
she possesses, and to neglect 110 precaution by which she may kill the
living poison before it can escape.