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28
When one remembers that the Diphtheria carrier is like the
above-mentioned fever patient—in an ineffective state although
not suffering from the disease; one considers that the legal
powers are equal with regard to the two clauses. One would
probably be in a stronger position if " in an ineffective
condition " were substituted for " suffering."
As a matter of fact, one takes no action, except peaceful
persuasion, with healthy Diphtheria carriers, and no difficulty is
experienced in getting most of the known cases to adopt
sufficient precautions. Besides, the most dangerous ones are
school children, and under the Acton Improvement Act, 1904,
power is given to exclude such carriers from school.
Section 27 states that the Medical Officer of Health may at
all reasonable times enter any public elementary school within
the district, and examine the scholars attending the same, and
may exclude from attendance thereat, for such period as he shall
consider requisite, any scholar who in his opinion is suffering
from an infectious disease, or is likely to spread infection.
Our efforts are directed with the object of the discovery and
the sufficient isolation of the carrier case, and the possible
spread by the other inmates of the infected household.
Whenever a case of Diphtheria is notified, certain inquiries
are made with a view of ascertaining the source of the infection.
In the past, consciously or unconsciously, we have probably been
attaching far too much attention to dead matter and the passive
transmitters of disease—namely, soil, water, air, clothes and
foods—and have been bestowing far too little consideration on
the living storehouses of bacteria.
The tendency in soil, water and air is towards the destruction
of pathological bacteria; it is living matter which is the
probable factor which keeps infectious matter alive, and infected
living matter are the carriers, which probably serve to bridge
over the gulf between one epidemic and the next. For this
reason, particular attention is paid to the possibility of another
member of the family having suffered from a sore throat.