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The person suffering from dysentery should not be considered
free without bacteriological confirmation. As a routine the
following suggestion was made with regard to Sonne dysentery.
After the person had shown no clinical signs of activity (no
loose stools) for three days another specimen might be submitted
to the bacteriologist, and this repeated at three-day intervals
until three specimens in sequence had been reported negative.
While special cases may require more intensive bacteriological
control, this suggestion was considered sufficient as a generalisation.
The opinion is given that there must be many cases of
loose motions due to indiscretion in diet, etc., which are not due
to specific infection by one of the dysentery group of organisms.
The essence of the prevention of spread of dysentery is
routine detailed attention to the principles of personal hygiene,
careful hand-washing after closet and after attention to a patient,
hand washing immediately prior to preparing food, the exclusion
of possibilities of flies or dust alighting on food, and the washing
of food utensils in really hot water. An infant's napkins
should be immediately dealt with after soiling by boiling, and
the toddler's chamber must be considered a very potential source
of spread unless thoroughly cleansed and disinfected after being
used.