Health and Temperance

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Jun 18, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 24.

Health and Temperance.

Early Treatment of Cholera.

If cholera should appear in your dwelling, the first thing to do is to isolate the patient; put him in a comfortable room without carpets and with as little furniture as is consistent with comfort; disinfect immediately all discharges from the body, and either burn or bury them; do not throw them into either privy or cesspool to poison your family or your neighbors; see that the patient has medical attendance promptly; do not wait ten or twelve hours to see if he will get better—delay in cholera means death. Cholera always gives warning of its approach by premonitory diarrhea; this is the favorable opportunity to arrest the disease; the attack is then under the control of medicine judiciously chosen and administered; a few hours' delay, and it will have passed from comparative safety into extreme danger, perhaps beyond the power of remedies to save; act, then, promptly and intelligently, and a valuable life may be rescued from a fatal illness.

If there is no medical man within easy call, and a person be attacked with premonitory diarrhea, place him in bed at once, apply warmth to the feet, a mustard poultice over the abdomen, and give a teaspoonful of paregoric (which is to be found in every family), every hour until your medical attendant arrives. Do not give indiscriminately, stimulants,—brandy, red pepper, camphor, ginger, etc., advised by busy-bodies; wait for skilled medical advice—more people are killed by quackery and meddlesome trifling than by disease.

If traveling, avoid as much as possible using urinals or water-closets at railway stations; they are constant sources of infection, if not properly taken care of and daily disinfected.

Remember that cholera is always, in this country, imported; it seeks crowds, and follows, as a rule, the line of travel; railway companies and lines of transportation generally, should see that all urinals, water-closets, and baggage-rooms belonging to the company, or about their premises, are daily cleansed, purified, and disinfected.—California State Board of Health.