A manual of practical hygiene, for students, physicians, and medical officers / by Charles Harrington.

  • Harrington, Charles, 1856-1908.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of practical hygiene, for students, physicians, and medical officers / by Charles Harrington. 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.

    764/794 (page 736)
    been made by State or local authorities, the Secretary of the Treasury may direct the undergoing of quarantine at said station. Section 7 proyides that ^yheueyer the President is satisfied that by reason of the existence of cholera or other infectious diseases in a foreign country there is serious danger of the introduction of the same into the United States, and that notAvithstanding the quarantine defence this danger is so increased by the introduction of persons or property from such country that a suspension of the right to introduce the same is demanded iu the interest of the public health, he shall haye po^ver to prohibit, in whole or in part, the introduction of persons and property from such countries or places as he may designate, and for such period of time as he may deem necessary. Sections 8 and 9 are of no sanitary interest. In accordance with the proyisions of this act, certain rules and regu- lations to be obseryed at foreign ports and at sea and at ports and on the frontiers of the United States haye been adopted and amended and added to as occasion has made it necessary or adyisable. These rules are subject to yeiy material modifications or additions, based on a wider knowledge of the causes of disease, modes of infection, etc., and thus what may be law today may be superseded tomorrow. Thus the very strongest regulations with regard to yellow feyer, which were made before the method of its dissemmation was known, and with the idea that infection could be conyeyed by fomites, merchandise, l)ag- gage, etc., will undoubtedly be changed completely in consequence of the discovery, by Reed and his associates, that infection cannot thus be conveyed. It is only reasonable, in view of their work, that quaran- tine restrictions upon passengers and cargoes from non-infected ])orts should be very greatly modified, and that, in each instance of vessels from infected ports, the incubative period of the disease, the possibility of the presence of infected mosquitoes on board, and the length of time a mosquito requires for the acquirement of dangerous properties, should be kept iu mind. Reed believes that a vessel at an infected ])ort can be loaded in midstream by lighters, and can then become infected only by persons who have been exposed on shore, since the probability of mosquitoes reaching the ship by flying or by lighters is very slight. If, then, a vessel thus loaded arrives at its destination free from dis- ease, the non-immunes aboard should be quarantined not longer than five days, and the time consumed by the voyage should be included in this ])eriod. The cargo may be allowed to be discharged without treat- ment or delay. But if the disease should occur while between ports, the sick should be removed, the sleeping (juarters disinfected with sulphur dioxide iu order to destroy all mosquitoes, and then the vessel should be allowed to dock. Under some circumstances, it may be necessary to fumigate the hold, for mosquitoes may be there in an active condition ; although, unless they have access to moisture, they will not live longer than five or six days. Rosenau has ke})t them alive in trunks for ten days and longer, but moisture was provided. If mosquitoes are found on board a vessel from an infected port, the