Bubonic plague: its course and symptoms and means of prevention and treatment / by Dr José Verdes Montenegro ; authorised translation by W. Munro.

  • José Verdes Montenegro y Montoro
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Bubonic plague: its course and symptoms and means of prevention and treatment / by Dr José Verdes Montenegro ; authorised translation by W. Munro. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    contact with others, and will neither give nor receive any object from them without previously washing his or her hands in very hot soap and water. 4. All objects which have been in contact with the patient should be plunged for a quarter of an hour into boiling water before being touched by any other than the person in charge. The same precaution should be taken with clothing before it is given out to be washed, and with all discharges before they are thrown into the sewer. The above includes all that need be recommended to the public. Other means of prevention fall to be adopted or prescribed by physicians or the authorities. Whoever has read carefully the foregoing advice, will see that it contains nothing of a special nature. It is, however, sufficient, and represents the sole co-operation with which the public ought to assist the action of the authorities and the medical faculty. It is useless and even prejudicial for the public to take a more active part and attempt to play roles for which they are not prepared. To the critical the simplicity of the counsel given above may appear strange; to meet this, I will mention only one consideration. All the mechanism, apparently so complicated, brought into action by the Board of Health, with its inspections, disinfections, sanitary stations, warrants, etc., have for their principal object the confiscation of dirty clothing. It is possible that many of the ]3ublic do not understand that this is the intention; for the sake of those I mention and explain it in precise terms. If the Spaniards resident in Portugal had found it convenient, as has been said by Seiior Cavia, not to bring dirty clothing in their luggage, they would hardly have been interfered with on the frontier. Since we know that the Government insists as a principal precaution that those who travel will do so with clean