Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Prevention and restriction of small-pox. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![as applicable, apply to all cities and villages in this State, and all duties which are, Dnties of officers ^^ ^^^ provisions of this chapter, to be performed by the board of health of town- and inhabitants ships. or by the officers and inhabitants thereof, shall in like manner be performed of cities and by the board of health and the officers and inhabitants of such cities and villages, villages. with a like penalty for the non-performance of such duties, excepting in cases where the charters of such cities and villages contain provisions inconsistent herewith. 2. Vaccination of attendants and all exposed.—The attendants on the sick with sinall-pox and all other persons who it is feared have been exposed to small-pox or varioloid, should immediately be vaccinated. If properly vacin- ated. within a day or two after exposure to small-pox, a person has a good chance to escape small-pox entirely, and if he should come down with vario- loid or modified small-pox he will probably have the disease in a much milder form than if not recently vaccinated. (See page 3, paragraph 5,—Preven- tion of Small-pox.) Unless the eruption has already appeared, vaccinate. 3. Restriction of the Infection.—As the contagium of small-pox harbors in carpets, bedding, clothing, etc., it is best to prepare the room in which one sick with small-pox is to be cared for, removing the carpets, pictures, sofas, etc., the bedding and clothing not required for actual use in the room, and any other articles capable of harboring the infection and which it would be difficult to disinfect or not desirable to burn. Such removals of carpets, bed- ding, etc., should not be attempted after they have been exposed to infection, unless properly disinfected under the direction of the health officer. (See paragraphs 12 and 15, page 10, of this document.) 4. Isolation—Those sick with small-pox or suspected small-pox should at once be separated from all other persons except the necessary attendants on the sick. 5. Care of those exposed to small-pox—All persons known to have been exposed to small-pox should at once be vaccinated, and should be, so far as possible, isolated from others until it is known whether they have contracted small-pox. This period of incubation is usually about twelve or fifteen days. 6. Notice of infected place.—Placard on house—A signboard or large card as a signal of danger, with the words, small-pox printed on it in large plain letters should at once be displayed before a house, and a large card with the words SMALL-POX in large, plain letters should be fastened on the door of a house, in which is a case of small-pox; and without permission of the health officer no person should be allowed to come to the house or go from it. 7. Who may attend small-pox patients.—Any person who has recently been successfully vaccinated or revaccinated, or has recently had small-pox or vario- loid, may attend on small-pox patients with comparative safety to himself, and in most cases with absolute safety so far as relates to danger from small-pox. No person who has been vaccinated or has had varioloid or small-])ox more than ten years previously should rely uj)on such experience for security from small-pox, if exposed by attendance on a person sick with small-pox or vario- loid. Such a person should immediately be revaccinated. ''It is now fully established that a typical vaccine scar is not proof of the immunity of the individual from small-pox. We have admitted to the hos- pital * * * 711 cases of small-pox exhibiting typical cicatrices; of which number 73 proved fatal.—^V. M. Welch, M. D., in Philadelphia Health Eeport, 1872. There is good statistical support for the common theory that the protective influence of vaccination, varioloid, and small-pox dies out in seven years.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21230444_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
