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59
SPECIAL PREVENTIVE MEASURES AGAINST CONSUMPTION.
For the sake of others it is imperative that:-
1. Consumptive persons should on no account expectorate or spit about the
house, or in cabs, omnibuses, tramcars, railway carriages, or any other public vehicle,
or in any theatre, concert room, church, school, or any other public place.
2. Consumptive persons should expectorate or spit into special vessels provided
for the purpose and containing water, or into small pieces of rag or paper; under no
circumstances should handkerchiefs be used for this purpose; for out of doors small
wide-mouthed bottles with well-fitting corks or pocket spittoons (obtainable from the
druggists) should be used; failing these, spit over a street gulley or into a street
gutter, never on the footway or roadway.
3. The contents of the spittoons or spitting vessels should have boiling water
poured upon them and be then mixed with an equal quantity of strong disinfectant
and poured down a water closet, which should be at once thoroughly flushed. The
vessels or spittoons should be scalded with boiling water and then thoroughly washed;
where small pieces of rag or paper have been used they should be burnt as soon as
possible.
4. All cups, spoons, knives and forks, &c., used by consumptive persons should
be scalded with boiling water and carefully washed before being used by others. All
soiled linen should be boiled.
5. Consumptive persons should have beds to themselves, but not necessarily
separate rooms.
6. Consumptive persons should not kiss or be kissed on the mouth. If moustaches
or beards are worn they must be kept thoroughly clean. It is, however, better
for consumptive men to be clean shaved.
7. Infants should not be suckled by consumptive mothers.
GENERAL PREVENTIVE MEASURES.
Persons suffering from consumption or any other form of tuberculosis should
occupy living and sleeping rooms as well lighted and ventilated and as free from
dirt and damp as possible. Workshops and work places should be plentifully
supplied with fresh air; ovorcrowding is dangerous, and stuify, badly ventilated
places should be avoided. Under no circumstances should chimneys be blocked up;
keep the windows of living rooms and bedrooms open as much as possible; bedroom
windows should be kept widely opened during the daytime, and unless otherwise
ordered by the medical attendant, slightly opened during the night time. The
dusting of rooms, passages and staircases of the dwelling, is a matter of importance.
Damp dusters should be used for this purpose, to prevent, as far as possible, dust