ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT.
By William Samuel Sadler
February 7, 1907.
"S. S. H.," care of SIGNS OF THE TIMES,
Mountain View, Cal. Replying to your inquiry concerning disinfectant to use after visiting the sick, I would say: 1. The most important thing you can do to keep from contracting a contagious disease when visiting it, is the very thing we doctors depend upon; namely, to keep yourself in good health; sleep in well-ventilated rooms; be careful to avoid attacks of indigestion—you are very prone to catch disease at such times; keep the bowels open, as constipation favors the contraction of contagious diseases; keep the skin warm; drink plenty of water, and keep the kidneys active. These things, coupled with a quiet, trusting state of mind, free from anxiety and the fear of catching the disease, constitute the best possible means of defense against contagion. 2. As to solutions, medicine, etc., which may be used to disinfect the hands, person, face, etc., after visiting diseases, there are a number of things that can be used, dependent, of course, largely upon the nature of the disease that has been visited: a. The least that can be done in such cases would be to change the clothing, and take a thoro-going soap bath. b. The hands, if the person has been touched, may be disinfected in a solution of bichloride of mercury, 1 part to 5,000 parts water. c. If it is diphtheria or scarlet fever, the throat should be sprayed or gargled with some disinfectant solution. Listerine is good for this purpose. d. The clothes worn when exposed to contagion, should either be baked in an oven for some time, or exposed to the fumes of sulfur or disinfected by means of formaldehyde fumes. e. If exposed to the contagion of typhoid fever, or any danger of it, all food and drink used should be thoroly boiled. f. A fairly good disinfectant, harmless to the body tissues, is peroxide of hydrogen, which can be gargled or used in other ways. g. Carbolic acid, five per cent. solution, is also of use as a disinfectant or germicide. h. Tincture of iodine is a most effective germicide, but has the objection that it stains the hands or fabrics to which it may be applied. i. Sunlight,—the direct action of the sun's rays, will probably kill most of the contagious organisms within half an hour.